Mississippi State
7-2
Alabama State
1-8
Big Second Half Leads Bulldogs To 67-46 Victory
December 14, 2010 | Men's Basketball
STARKVILLE, Miss. - A strong second half lifted the Mississippi State men's basketball team to a 67-46 win over Alabama State in a regionally-televised contests Tuesday night in the Humphrey Coliseum.
The Bulldogs close their season-opening nine-game homestand with a 7-2 record. While Tuesday night marked the Bulldogs' biggest margin of victory this season, the victory still not come easily.
MSU played without the services of leading scorer Ravern Johnson. Johnson served a one-game suspension for failure to abide by the university's class attendance policy. Playing its fourth game in four days, MSU actually trailed 28-26 at halftime.
In the final half, the Bulldogs blew things wide open with 25-5 run over the first 12 minutes.
“This was all about finding a way to get a win,” MSU head coach Rick Stansbury said. “It is the fourth game but really fatigue is usually more in your mind than in your body. The key to this was making playing gritty and making some plays. We had several players who played gritty and made some key plays in the second half.”
Despite a recent offensive surge, the Bulldogs found some struggles late in the first half Tuesday night. MSU managed only five total points over the final 10:27 of the opening half.
The Maroon and White scored the game's first three points and sprinted to an 11-4 lead on a Riley Benock 3-point basket. The seven-point lead was maintained at 19-12 on a putback by Benock.
Alabama State (1-8) slowly rallied. The Hornets actually grabbed their first lead of the night on a 3-point basket by Kaylim Noel with 1:54 left. That trey put ASU on top 26-24.
The Hornets led 28-26 at halftime.
Benock hit a 3-point basket nine seconds into the second half and the hosts never trailed again. Leading 35-33, the Bulldogs went on an 18-0 run. Brian Bryant continued his strong offensive play of late and was a spark on both ends of the floor.
Back-to-back baskets by Twanny Beckham ran the MSU advantage to 43-33. The run was capped by a tip-in from Bryant and two free throws by Elgin Bailey, running the score to 51-33.
“The key was the zone defense,” Stansbury said. “They really didn't get the ball into the paint very often. From the outside, they didn't shoot a good percentage. Defensively, we played really well in the second half.”
The Bulldogs outscored the guests 41-18 in the final half. Alabama State only managed to hit 7-of-34 shots from the field in the final. The game's largest lead was assumed in the final seconds with John Riek dunking the basketball home.
For the contest, the Bulldogs hit 25 of 57 shots from the field (43.9 percent), 5 of 14 shots from 3-point range (35.7 percent) and 12 of 19 shots from the foul line (63.2 percent). The Hornets hit 18 of 62 shots from the field (29.0 percent), 6 of 27 shots from 3-point range (22.2 percent) and 4 of 7 shots from the foul line (57.1 percent).
MSU held a 47-35 rebounding advantage. The Bulldogs had 11 assists and 17 turnovers, while the Hornets had seven assists and 13 turnovers.
Bailey paced the Bulldogs with 13 points. Benock and Bryant each finished with 11 points. Kodi Agustus flirted with a double-double before finishing with nine points and a team-high nine rebounds.
Kenderek Washington paced Alabama State with nine points.
The Bulldogs play Belhaven University in an exhibition game at 7 Wednesday night at the Mississippi Coliseum in Jackson. That contest marks the debut of Renardo Sidney in a Bulldog uniform. Sydney missed the first nine games of this season while gaining NCAA eligibility.
Regular season play resumes Saturday when MSU
faces Virginia Tech at 7 p.m. in the Battle at Atlantis to be played at Paradise
Island, Bahamas.
