JACKSON — The non-conference slate hasn’t gone the way it was expected to for Xavian Stapleton — and he knows it.
Before Saturday night, Mississippi State’s junior guard had yet to score in double digits and had only played 20 or more minutes in a game twice.
It was a far cry from a player fellow junior guard Quinndary Weatherspoon identified in the preseason as the MSU men’s basketball team’s best candidate to have a breakout season.
Saturday night could be a tipping point.
In a game that featured six second-half lead changes — all of them in the final 11 minutes — Stapleton hit two clutch 3-pointers to help MSU defeat Southern Mississippi 70-64 win in the second-annual Capital City Showdown at the Mississippi Coliseum.
Stapleton had a season-high 12 points off the bench to go with three rebounds, an assist, and a blocked shot in a season-high 23 minutes.
“Those were big momentum builders,” MSU coach Ben Howland said of Stapleton’s shots. “His play is important. Everybody’s play is important. We’re very thin. It was a tough matchup for our fours out there because they’re playing four guards. I thought he was really able to give us some added experience in that position and he helped us defensively.”
Stapleton’s first 3-pointer came with Southern Miss leading by four points when Lamar Peters found Stapleton in the corner. The second came 48 seconds later and gave MSU a two-point lead. The Bulldogs didn’t trail again.
“That first one boosted my momentum because I’ve been in kind of a slump shooting behind the arc,” Stapleton said.
Stapleton was 4-for-7 from the field. All seven shots were from 3-point range. Last season, Stapleton shot 33 percent from 3-point range. He started this season 2-for-16 from behind the arc.
Still, Stapleton had the green light from his teammates.
“Guys just telling me to keep shooting the ball,” Stapleton said. “If I was open, shoot the ball, and that gave me confidence. I felt like we had to make something happen, and when the open shots came I had to take them.”
As junior forward Aric Holman put it, “That’s every night with everybody. You never know. As long as we believe in each other like we do, we don’t doubt somebody is going to step up and take that role.”
Peters (10 points) hit double digits against a Division I team for the first time in five games. Holman and Nick Weatherspoon also had 10 points. Holman led the team with six rebounds.
The breakout game for Stapleton, who is from Flora, came with a lot of family and people from his high school days at the game.
MSU is off until Dec. 30 when it will play host to North Florida in its final non-conference game of the season.
“We have to get better at a lot of facets,” Howland said. “Like I told them, it’s a whole new season when we come back. … We have to have ramped up everything.”
Cortez Edwards led Southern Miss (7-6) with 22 points and four steals. Kevin Holland added 11 points.
Follow Dispatch sports writer Brett Hudson on Twitter @Brett_Hudson
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