Mississippi State
(11-2)
Mississippi Valley State
(1-12)
Bulldogs Continue To Roll With 73-45 Victory Over Delta Devils
December 28, 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. - Mississippi State showed no post-Christmas Day rust, rolling past Mississippi Valley State 73-45 in a men's basketball game played Monday night in the Humphrey Coliseum.
The Bulldogs closed out the home portion of their non-conference slate by winning an eighth straight game. MSU improved to 11-2 overall, while MVSU fell to 1-12. The Bulldogs have won all three career meetings with the Delta Devils.
"It was good to get that game over with," MSU head coach Rick Stansbury said. "It was a quick turn around, after Christmas. Only one day of practice and conditioning. We weren't as sharp or as focused. So it is good to get the game out of the way and get a win."
After a sluggish start, the Bulldogs broke away from an 8-8 tie with a 15-4 run. Back-to-back 3-point baskets from Barry Stewart and Phil Turner punctuated that run. Ravern Johnson also hit a trey during the spree, while defensively MSU received a steal from Riley Benock and a pair of blocks from Jarvis Varnado.
The outside shooting of MVSU's Shannon Behling kept the Delta Devils in the contest early. The Bulldogs ended the half with a 9-0 run to take a 41-22 advantage at the intermission.
The hosts stretched that run to 19-0 by scoring the first 10 points of the game's final half. After going the 3:48 of the half without a point, the Delta Devils could get no closer than a 25 point deficit the remainder of the way.
For the contest, MSU hit 24 of 61 shots from the floor (39.3 percent), 12 of 33 shots from 3-point range (36.4 percent) and 13 of 20 shots from the foul line (65.0 percent). MVSU hit 19 of 62 shots from the field (30.6 percent), 4 of 19 shots from 3-point range (21.1 percent) and 3 of 8 shots from the foul line (37.5 percent).
MVSU held a 45-44 rebounding advantage. The Bulldogs had 16 assists and a season-low four turnovers, while the Delta Devils had six assists and 13 turnovers. The four turnovers was a first for MSU since the Bulldogs also committed four turnovers in November 2007 against Louisiana Tech.
"You look at the statistics and there were some bad numbers," Stansbury said. "You get out-rebounded and that is a bad statistic. However, you only make four turnovers and that has to be some kind of record. We held them to 45 points, which is 17 points below their average. The defense and the four turnovers gave us separation in the game."
Johnson paced the MSU offensive attack with 22 points, including a 5-of-10 night from 3-point range. Johnson is now in eighth place on the MSU all-time 3-point shot list. Stewart added 11 points, while Varnado scored 10 points. Varnado added seven rebounds and seven blocks. Dee Bost had seven assists for the Bulldogs.
MVSU was led by Behling, who had 16 points and a game-high 14 rebounds, including 10 on the defensive end. Jason Holmes followed with 12 points for the Delta Devils.
The Bulldogs return to action Thursday with a road contest against the University of San Diego. MSU and USD are set for a 6 p.m. CT start. The non-conference schedule then closes with MSU visiting Western Kentucky for an 8 p.m. CT tip on Monday night.
