Mississippi State
(8-2)
Wright State
(6-4)
| Team | 1 | 2 | F |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wright State | 31 | 38 | 69 |
| Mississippi State | 43 | 37 | 80 |
Bulldogs Down Wright State For Fifth Straight Win
December 16, 2009 | Men's Basketball
• Official Statistics
• Official Statistics (PDF)
• Postgame Notes & Quotes (PDF)
• FREE M2M VIDEO: Coach Stansbury's Postgame Press Conference
• FREE M2M VIDEO: Postgame Player Interviews
STARKVILLE, Miss. - Senior Barry Stewart found his stroke to the tune of a season-high 21 points to lift the Mississippi State Bulldogs (8-2) to its fifth-straight victory, as State defeated the visiting Wright State Raiders 80-69 Wednesday evening.
Stewart brought down season-highs in both field goals (8) and treys (5) and added 3 rebounds.
Leading the Southeastern Conference in field-goal shooting, all-SEC senior Jarvis Varnado added 17 points on 6-of-6 shooting. Also leading the nation in blocked shots, Varnado swatted 6 and gathered 8 rebounds.
Junior shooter Ravern Johnson's 13 points and sophomore forward Romero Osby's 10 rounded out State scorers in double digits. Sophomore point guard Dee Bost handed out a career-high 11 assists.
Wright State's Troy Tabler recorded a game-high 22 points on 6-of-12 shooting from behind the arc.
The first half was one of several runs. Mississippi State pushed out to an early 11-1 run to lead 21-8 with 9:59 remaining in the first half. The Raiders responded with a 13-2 stretch, bringing MSU's lead to just 29-27 at the 4:46 mark. The Bulldogs wound down the half on a 14-2 run to take a 43-31 lead into halftime.
The two teams combined for five-straight made treys out of the break, but the Raiders could never shrink the lead to less than nine the remainder of the game.
"We played a very, very good team in Wright State," MSU coach Rick Stansbury said. "This was a quality win for our team. They play a different style. They have five men that can step away and really shoot it."
The Bulldogs drained a season-high 63.0 percent of their shots, the fourth-best mark of any team under Stansbury's tenure. MSU also registered 13 blocks and shot 48.0 percent beyond the arc.
Mississippi State continues action on Saturday at Houston, marking the third game away from the Hump in the last four contests. Tip is set for 1 p.m., and the game will be televised by CSS.
