Mississippi State
(5-2)
St. Bonaventure
(4-3)
Hot Shooting Bulldogs Cruise Past Bonnies, 105-53, At The Hump
December 05, 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. - All-SEC senior Jarvis Varnado scored 14 to become the 31st member of Mississippi State's 1,000-point club as the Bulldogs (5-2) romped to a 105-53 victory against the visiting St. Bonaventure Bonnies (4-3) Saturday afternoon.
Varnado also claimed eight rebounds, four blocks and three steals. The 52-point victory ties the largest for any team in Rick Stansbury's 12-year tenure.
St. Bonaventure entered the game atop the national rankings in field-goal percentage, averaging 55.1 percent from the floor. The Bonnies stumbled into a stingy MSU defense on Saturday though, and managed to hit just 23 of their 69 shots for 33.3 percent. SBU hadn't hit less than 43.1 percent in any game this season prior to meeting the Bulldogs.
Conversely, St. Bonaventure's opponents were averaging just 57.0 points per game, but State had racked up 56 by halftime and nearly doubled that mark.
Mississippi State also tied the all-time school record of 16 three-pointers made after shooting 16-of-28 from long-range, good for 57.1 percent. MSU outrebounded its opponent for the fifth time this season, this time by a 44-31 margin.
For the fourth time this season, at least four Bulldog players recorded double-digit scoring, as five State players did Saturday. Junior Ravern Johnson led all scorers with a season-high 18 points on 4-of-6 shooting from outside, while sophomore point guard Dee Bost shot 5-of-7 from long range to record 17. Bost also grabbed a season-high eight rebounds and tied a season high with seven assists.
Junior Kodi Augustus also registered a season-high 17 points and five rebounds, while senior Barry Stewart scored 13 and dished out 7 assists.
Mississippi State dominated from tip. The Bulldogs never trailed, and jumped out to a 16-2 run before stretching the lead to 56-22 at halftime. The score never tightened, and the Bonnies eventually fell by 52 points. State's 105 points scored was tied for the second-most under Stansbury, and most since 1999-00.
"When you make shots, you made the world go 'round and we made shots," MSU coach Rick Stansbury said. "A lot of our shots got started with our ability to defend tonight. In the first half, I thought we just took everything away from them defensively."
After a quick one-game homestand, Mississippi State hits the road again to face DePaul (5-1) in the SEC/Big East Challenge hosted in Tampa, Fla. Tipoff is set for 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, and the game will be televised on ESPN2.
