Mississippi State
8-9, 1-3
Vanderbilt
11-6, 1-3
Bulldogs Rally To Beat Vandy And Earn First SEC Win
January 18, 2015 | Men's Basketball
STARKVILLE, Miss. – On Throwback Saturday, Mississippi State threw back Vanderbilt.
Breaking a tie in the final minute of regulation, I.J. Ready's 3-point basket from the top of the key lifted Mississippi State past Vanderbilt 57-54 in a SEC showdown played at Humphrey Coliseum.
MSU rallied from down 12 points to win its first league game of the season. The Bulldogs improved to 8-9 overall and 1-3 in league play, while the Commodores fell to 11-6 and 1-3.
“We needed a win to build our confidence back,” MSU junior guard Fred Thomas said. “Now, we get to talk about handling success. It makes going to class and everything that much better. We really needed a win and thank goodness we got it.”
A 7-0 run midway through the first half pushed Vanderbilt to 19-10 lead. A 3-pointer by Riley LaChance ran the Commodores' advantage to 26-14 with 1:20 left in the first half.
A tip-in by Oliver Black and basket by Ready as the half expired brought the Bulldogs with 26-18 at the intermission.
“In the second half, I pressure bothered them,” MSU head coach Rick Ray said. “Damian Jones is the best post player in the SEC. They put you in a bind because they have so many guys who can shoot the basketball. You have to help on Damian and I thought our pressure did that.
“We got to the free throw line and made more free throws than they shot. The free throws and rebounds were important.”
MSU started the second half on a stronger note offensively. A 3-pointer by Travis Daniels cut the Vanderbilt lead to 29-23 with 17:47 left in the contest.
Still down seven points at 35-28, the Bulldogs took control with 14-0 run.
“We were doing a lot better job of sharing the basketball,” Ready said. “We can be one of the best teams in the league when we share it like that. We were aggressive in the second half but it was a good kind of aggression.”
A jumper by Gavin Ware capped the run and gave the Maroon and White a 42-35 lead with 10:36 left.
The Commodores hung tight from 3-point range. Eventually two free throws by LaChance tied the game 52-52 with 1:27 left. The tie did not last long as Ready sank the go-ahead shot 15 seconds later, sending the coliseum crowd of 6,568 home happy.
“Would like to acknowledge the fans,” Ray said. “The student body was great. Our crowd was special and it really helped out guys through some tough times.”
For the contest, the Bulldogs hit 17 of 44 shots from the field (38.6 percent), 3 of 12 shots from 3-point range (25.0 percent) and 20 of 27 shots from the foul line (74.1 percent). The Commodores hit 20 of 52 shots from the field (38.5 percent), 5 of 20 shots from 3-point range (25.0 percent) and 9 of 17 shots from the foul line (52.9 percent).
MSU held a 41-28 rebounding advantage. The Bulldogs had six assists and 17 turnovers, while the Commodores had eight assists and seven turnovers.
Ready led MSU with 11 points, while Thomas added 10 points. Ware had a game-high 13 rebounds, including 11 on the defensive end.
Vanderbilt received 21 points from Damian Jones and 12 points from Riley LaChance. Jones had a team-high eight rebounds.
MSU returns to the road for an 8 p.m. start Wednesday at Auburn. That contest will be televised nationally by the SEC Network. MSU returns home for a 2 p.m. start Saturday against Georgia.
