Mississippi State
10-7, 2-1
Auburn
7-10, 0-3
Bulldogs Rout Auburn, 85-66
January 16, 2011 | Men's Basketball
STARKVILLE, Miss. - A red-hot start lifted the Mississippi State men's basketball team to an 85-66 victory Auburn in a Southeastern Conference men's basketball game played Sunday afternoon in the Humphrey Coliseum.
In a season full of tight finishes and off-the court distractions, the Bulldogs were finally able to relax and have a lot of fun. An early 19-point lead meant the hosts could breathe quite easy, while dispatching the outmanned Tigers. MSU has now won 15 of the past 20 in the series, including 10 of the last 11 in this building.
The Maroon and White effort was also quite fitting on a historic afternoon at the workplace. Sunday's contest marked the 500th in the history of the Humphrey Coliseum. First used in December 1975, the Bulldogs are now 362-138 on the home hardwood.
"Our team did a good job of carrying over a lot of things from practice Saturday into this game," MSU head coach Rick Stansbury said. "We are still trying to get our rhythm. We have too many unforced turnovers. We had some chance to make them pay for miscues and didn't.
"Still, the effort was really good. This is a new team and we are beginning to learn how to play together better."
The Bulldogs shot a season-best 62 percent from the floor. MSU also enjoyed it second largest margin of victory for the season.
With the victory, the Bulldogs are now one of eight teams atop the overall conference standings with a 2-1 league mark. MSU is 10-7 overall. Auburn fell to 7-10 and 0-3.
The Bulldogs scored the game's first four points and grabbed a 9-2 lead on a Kodi Augustus defensive rebound and Riley Benock fast-break layup.
After an Auburn free throw, the Bulldogs reeled off 13 straight points, to take the 22-3 advantage with 11:42 left before halftime. Dee Bost, Benock and Ravern Johnson hit back-to-back-to-back treys to open the big advantage.
"The first eight minutes our defensive effort was the best it has been all year," Stansbury said. "Down the stretch we subbed and played more zone, so some things got out of hand. However, our focus and our effort was very good from the very start of the game."
Auburn scored four of the game's next five points. The Bulldogs then pushed out to a 30-9 advantage on a Johnson dunk with 6:11 left before halftime.
The Tigers scored the game's
next seven points. Still, the Maroon and White held a commanding 41-22 push at
the intermission.
In the game's final half, the Bulldogs caught fire, hitting
17 of their final 26 shots for a 65.4 percent half from the field.
Behind some strong defense and MSU foul trouble, the Tigers actually closed within 53-41 with 13:50 left to play.
However, the hosts removed all doubt by scoring the game's next nine points. A jumper by Jalen Steele ran the advantage back to 62-41 with 9:46 left.
Steele, a freshman reserve guard, actually enjoyed his own little run. Steele scored 10 straight points for the Maroon and White. By the time that flurry ended the Bulldogs had their largest advantage of the game, at 68-43 with 7:55 left.
The closing minutes resembled a pre-season workout with multiple alley-oops, monster dunks and the crowd roaring its approval - especially when crowd favorite John Riek tallied four points, three blocks and five rebounds in 10 minutes of work.
For the contest, the Bulldogs hit 31 of 50 shots from the field (62.0 percent), 7 of 17 shots from 3-point range (41.2 percent) and 16 of 26 shots from the foul line (61.5 percent). The Tigers hit 24 of 67 shots from the field (35.8 percent), 7 of 23 shots from 3-point range (30.4 percent) and 11 of 24 shots from the foul line (45.8 percent).
MSU held a 38-37 rebounding advantage. The Bulldogs had 20 assists and 17 turnovers, while the Tigers had 12 assists and 13 turnovers.
Johnson, the team's leading scorer in non-conference play, finally got back on track with a game-high 21 points, including an 8-for-15 night from the field. Johnson's average had slipped to 18.3, thanks to 14 points combined in the squad's first two conference games.
Renardo Sidney finished with 15 points, while Benock had 11 points and Steele had his 10 points. Augustus had a team-high seven rebounds.
The Bulldogs dished out a season-high 20 assists, led by eight from Bost. MSU also had 10 blocked shots, paced by three apiece from Riek and Wendell Lewis.
Auburn received 15 points from Earnest Ross. Also in double figures were Kenny Gabriel with 14 points (and a team-high seven rebounds), Chris Denson with 12 points and Josh Wallace with 10 points.
MSU returns to the road for a
Saturday contest at Georgia. The SEC's lone Battle of the Bulldogs this season
will tip at 3 p.m. CT from Athens. The contest will be televised regionally by
The SEC Network.
