Mississippi State
1-0
Eastern Washington
0-1
Bulldogs Roar Back In Second Half For Impressive Win
November 14, 2015 | Men's Basketball
STARKVILLE, Miss. – In both halves of basketball Friday, Mississippi State found itself down by 10 points. But when the Bulldogs needed a lift, both I.J. Ready and Gavin Ware delivered in the clutch.
In front of a season-opening crowd of 9,931 at Humphrey Coliseum, MSU rallied to post a 106-88 win against Eastern Washington.
Down 60-50 early in the second frame, MSU (1-0) slowly began to chip away at the lead. Ready, who finished with a career-high 25 points, got a basket and free throw to cut the Eagles' advantage to 64-60. Then with 13:18 left, Ware scored 2 of his game-high 26 points on a tip-in to even the score at 70-apiece.
Following a defensive stop, Fred Thomas got free inside for a layup to give the Bulldogs a 72-70 lead, one it never relinquished.
From that point, Mississippi State completely took over, building as much as 21-point lead on a jumper by Ready.
At the break, however, MSU trailed 51-48.
After jumping out to a quick 10-4 lead on a layup by Thomas, Eastern Washington orchestrated a 15-2 run to go up 19-12 on a 3-pointer by Bogdan Bliznyuk. The lead eventually swelled to 43-33 on a layup by Venky Jois.
MSU did go into the break with momentum after a shot by Johnny Zuppardo at the buzzer pulled the Bulldogs within three.
For the game, Mississippi State was 41-of-66 shooting, 5-17 beyond the arc, while the Eagles were 33-65, 6-22. MSU's 62.1 percent shooting was its best since a 60.4 percent performance against Auburn on Feb. 4, 2012.
Also in double-digit scoring for MSU was Travis Daniels with 16 points, followed by Quinndary Weatherspoon with 12 and Thomas with 10.
Bliznyuk and Felix Von Hofe paced Eastern Washington (0-1) with 21 points each.
MSU returns to action Monday at home against Southern.
