Mississippi State
(9-5)
Houston
(8-3)
State Rolls Over Houston For 82-65 Win Saturday
January 03, 2009 | Men's Basketball
? Official Statistics
? Official Statistics (PDF)
? Postgame Notes & Quotes (PDF)
STARKVILLE, Miss. ? In its most well-balanced offensive attack this season, Mississippi State (9-5) dismantled the visiting Houston Cougars (8-3) 82-65 at Humphrey Coliseum Saturday afternoon.
Three Bulldogs scored in double digits, led by sophomore guard Phil Turner's season-high 16 on 6-of-7 shooting from the floor, including a 3-of-4 effort from behind the arc. Fellow sophomore backcourt threat Ravern Johnson added 14 points and three assists while freshman big-man Romero Osby put up 13 after hitting 2-of-3 attempts from long range and grabbed seven boards.
Freshman point guard Dee Bost neared his season highs in both assists with eight and rebounds with six. Star center Jarvis Varnado led the squad with eight rebounds.
Junior guard Aubrey Coleman recorded the game's only double-double for the Cougars with 11 points and 10 rebounds while fellow junior guard Kelvin Lewis led the team with 16 points on 5-of-20 shooting.
MSU began both halves on fire, scoring the first eight points of the first and outscoring the Cougars 20-4 in the first nine minutes of the second. In those first minutes of the second stanza, Houston hit just one of its first 16 attempts from the field to finish the game with a 27.2 percent mark ? the second-lowest efficiency for an MSU opponent this season.
“I thought this was probably the most complete two halves we have put together this year,” MSU coach Rick Stansbury said. “I thought our kids had a great approach and came tonight to win. We made the extra pass, and we eliminated a lot of careless turnovers.”
The win was Mississippi State's first victory against Houston in program history, the sixth game between the two teams overall.
Mississippi State caps off its non-conference slate Monday at home against Western Kentucky at 7 p.m. in a game televised by CSS.
The Bulldogs begin Southeastern Conference play at Arkansas (11-1) on Saturday, Jan. 10, at 6 p.m. on FSN.
