Mississippi State
(20-13)
Bradley
(22-13)
| Team | 1 | 2 | F |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bradley | 38 | 34 | 72 |
| Mississippi State | 44 | 57 | 101 |
State Routs Bradley, 101-72, To Move Into NIT Quarterfinals
March 17, 2007 | Men's Basketball
* Official Statistics (PDF)
* Postgame Notes & Quotes (PDF)
STARKVILLE, Miss. - In the second round of the MasterCard NIT, the Mississippi State Bulldogs (20-13) sent home the visiting Bradley Braves (22-13) by a commanding 101-72 margin Saturday.
With the win, State moves into an NIT quarterfinal matchup against Florida State, which will be played at Humphrey Coliseum this Tuesday, March 20, at 6 p.m. CT. The contest will be televised nationally by ESPN.
Recording his sixth double-double of the season, MSU's Jamont Gordon scored a game-high 20 points on 7-of-12 shooting, along with 10 assists and six rebounds, in Saturday's effort. Bulldog Charles Rhodes led four other State players in double figures, by tallying 17 points on the afternoon coupled with eight rebounds, while Reginald Delk, Dietric Slater, and Barry Stewart combined for 41 points on 15-of-29 shooting and 15 rebounds. Freshman Jarvis Varnado also grabbed 12 rebounds, 11 of them by halftime.
Pacing the Braves was senior guard Will Franklin, who notched 15 points on 4-of-13 shooting from the field, while three other Bradley members scored in double figures.
After a competitive first half, the Bulldogs owned a 44-38 advantage entering the second stanza. After seeing the Braves push out to a 9-0 run to cut the MSU lead to 69-62 with 8:33 remaining in the game, a three-pointer from Stewart would light the Bulldogs on fire. State outscored Bradley 32-10 the remainder of the game, in which time MSU would not miss another shot on the afternoon, going 13-of-13 in that timespan.
Coach Rick Stansbury's Bulldogs have now extended their all-time high of home wins in a season to 15 with today's win. MSU now moves to 5-5 all-time in NIT action, and 9-1 at home this season. As a team, MSU also tied the all-time MSU record of 51 rebounds in a single post-season contest.
Of note, the Bulldogs' SEC-leading defense held the nation's second-most efficient three-point shooting team to only 9-of-30 (30.0 percent) from behind the arc, and 26-of-71 (36.6 percent) from the floor.
TUESDAY TICKET INFO:
* If you ordered tickets for the entire tournament, you do not need to call the ticket office again.
* The Mississippi State Ticket Office will be taking phone orders tomorrow, Sunday, from 12 - 5 pm central. Call 888-Go-Dawgs or 662-325-2600. The ticket office will be open on Monday starting at 8:30 am.
* Because of the short turn around for the next game, game tickets can only be picked up at will-call in the President's Room of Humphrey Coliseum beginning at 3 pm on Tuesday. Other than student tickets, there will be no ticket pick-up available at the Bryan Building.
* Student tickets must be picked up at the ticket office with a valid MSU student ID beginning Monday from 8:30 am - 4:30 pm at the Mississippi State Ticket Office and Tuesday from 8:30 am - 3:00 pm and then we will resume selling student tickets at the Humphrey Coliseum at 4 pm.
