No. 25 Men’s Hoops Stays Perfect at Home

Monday, November 26

Starkville

7:00 PM

Mississippi State

5-1

Alcorn State

1-6

Alcorn State

Mississippi State

No. 25 Men’s Hoops Stays Perfect at Home

November 26, 2018 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Player Press Conference Quotes (PDF)

by Caleb Garner, Graduate Assistant/Communications

STARKVILLE – A sharp-shooting first half carried over into the second half as No. 25 Mississippi State canned a season's best 61.1 percent from the field to trounce Alcorn State by an 88-65 margin on Monday at Humphrey Coliseum.

Five Bulldogs (5-1) factored in with double-figure scoring performances ignited by 17 apiece from Lamar Peters and Nick Weatherspoon on a combined 11-of-20 shooting clip. The duo also accounted for seven of Mississippi State's 11 treys headed by Peters' five triples.

Reggie Perry notched his first double-double of his young career with 16 points and 11 rebounds. The Georgia native was a sparkling 7-of-8 from the field.

Quinndary Weatherspoon added 14 points and three steals followed by Tyson Carter's team-leading 10 points and two assists off the bench. The Bulldogs have won 17 of 19 games when Carter reaches double figures over the last two seasons.

Setting up Mississippi State's hot shooting night was a season-high 24 assists on 33 baskets. Peters headed the charge with seven dimes followed by Robert Woodard II's solid all-around effort with six points, six rebounds and five assists against zero turnovers.

The Bulldogs claimed a 36-26 edge in the battle of the boards and grabbed 29 of the game's 45 rebounds on the defensive side. Aric Holman chipped in six points accompanied by six rebounds. KeyShawn Feazell garnered two points, while E.J. Datcher tallied a pair of rebounds.

FROM THE BENCH WITH COACH HOWLAND
"I'm glad we got the win. That trip (to Las Vegas) was a grueling trip … We're still a little bit recovering from the effects of that. I really ran them hard Saturday and Sunday so I was very pleased today with our 88 points on 54 shots, 24 assists on the 33 baskets. 24 of the 33 baskets made were assisted upon."

"I thought Lamar had a really good first half – moving the ball, sharing the basketball and really did a nice job shooting it because he's letting it come to him, which was good. I thought that Reggie Perry had a really nice game, obviously, and as did Robert Woodard (II). Robert had five assists, zero turnovers. That was big to go along with his six rebounds. I thought we did a good job defensively in the first half in particular, holding them to 34 percent. We attacked the zone well and getting the ball to the high post. It's all we worked on yesterday was zone offense. Obviously, it was important for us. I'm glad that we got this as we get ready for a very tough road trip coming up at the end of the week."

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Nick Weatherspoon's three-pointer started an 11-0 run after Alcorn State opened the scoring. A dunk by Perry capped the run and gave the Bulldogs an 11-2 lead with 17:03 left.

After the Braves closed within two at 15-13, Quinndary Weatherspoon answered with a jumper on the offensive end. A 3-pointer by Perry would later stretch the lead to 25-18 with 8:59 remaining in the half.

Alcorn State kept within striking distance at 27-22 with 7:55 on the clock before the Bulldogs busted loose a 12-0 to take control for good. Holman and Peters canned consecutive treys within 35 seconds to make it 39-22 at the 3:54 mark.

The Bulldogs took a 44-29 lead into the locker room and extended it to 20 inside the first minute of the second half.

Mississippi State pushed the advantage to 64-34 at the 13:41 mark. Peters would rattled home consecutive three-pointers and an old-fashioned three-point play courtesy of Quinndary Weatherspoon capped the run.

For the contest, the Bulldogs hit 33-of-54 shots from the field (61.1 percent), 11-of-24 shots from three-point range (45.8 percent) and 11-of-14 shots from the foul line (78.6 percent). The Braves hit 22-of-59 shots from the field (37.3 percent), 7-of-30 shots from 3-point range (23.3 percent) and 14-of-20 shots from the foul line (70.0 percent).

MSU had 24 assists and 17 turnovers, while the Braves had 10 assists and 12 turnovers.

Alcorn State (1-6) was led by Deshaw Andrews with 26 points and seven rebounds.

UP NEXT
Mississippi State will play its first true road game at Dayton on Friday. Tip time is slated for 6 p.m. CT from UD Arena. The game will televised by CBS Sports Network's cable channel.

Visit www.HailState.com for the latest news and information on the men's basketball program. Fans also can follow the program on its social media outlets by searching 'HailStateMBK' on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.