Mississippi State
2-0
Mississippi Valley State
0-2
Bulldogs Improve To 2-0 With Win Against Mississippi Valley
November 18, 2014 | Men's Basketball
Thomas then carried his preseason work ethic to the floor, scoring 17 points on 4-of-7 shooting, with three 3-point baskets as MSU rolled past Mississippi Valley State, 89-68.
“We played a lot of advantage basketball,” Thomas said. “We are a lot more athletic and quicker this season. I had a lot of confidence from pregame warmups and it carried over into the game. The advantage basketball is what really helped us a lot tonight.”
MSU shot 59.6 percent from the floor and held a plus-22 rebounding advantage against the smaller MVSU lineup.
“It was a good win for our guys,” MSU coach Rick Ray said. “I was disappointed in how we performed in the second half. We had too many turnovers in the second half. Honestly, we gave up too many points in both halves.”
Travis Daniels hit a 3-point basket and Fred Thomas followed with back-to-back 3's as MSU quickly built an 11-5 advantage. The lead was stretched to 13 at 21-8 when Thomas hit four free throws on one possession after a flagrant foul.
A layup by Trivante Bloodman ran the lead to 25-8 with 14:35 left in the first half.
“We knew we had more size than they did so it was important that we took advantage of that,” MSU junior Gavin Ware said. “We just really had to get the ball inside and make the shots. We knew we would get the rebounds if we worked hard at it.”
MSU shot 69.0 percent in the opening half and led 58-34 at halftime.
In the second half, MSU stretched the lead to 73-40 after back-to-back baskets by Roquez Johnson. Johnson joined Ware in the dominance of the inside game, as he led the Bulldogs with a game-high 20 points.
“We really did some great things offensively,” Ray said. “We played our freshmen a lot of minutes. They will continue to learn. The 26 turnovers is too many, but we will work on that. We had to get the ball inside because we knew they liked to trap the ball a lot.”
For the contest, the Bulldogs hit 31 of 52 shots from the field (59.6 percent), 4 of 15 shots from 3-point range (26.7 percent) and 23 of 32 shots from the foul line (71.9 percent). The Delta Devils hit 24 of 68 shots from the field (35.3 percent), 8 of 28 shots from 3-point range (28.6 percent) and 12 of 18 shots from the foul line (66.7 percent).
MSU held a 47-25 rebounding advantage. The Bulldogs had 16 assists and 26 turnovers, while the Delta Devils had 12 assists and 16 turnovers.
MSU placed five players in double figures, led by Johnson with 20 points. Ware added 19 points, while Thomas added 17 points. Bloodman scored 11 points, while Daniels scored 10 points.
Ware had eight rebounds, while Demetrius Houston had seven rebounds. Bloodman had seven assists.
MVSU (0-2) received 18 points from Jordan Washington, 17 points from Tyler Corley and 11 points from Isaac Williams.
MSU will host Utah State at noon Saturday.
