Balanced Effort Propels No. 18 Men’s Hoops Past Cincinnati, 70-59

Saturday, December 15

Starkville

7:30 PM

Mississippi State

9-1

Cincinnati

9-2

Cincinnati

Mississippi State

Balanced Effort Propels No. 18 Men’s Hoops Past Cincinnati, 70-59

December 16, 2018 | Men's Basketball

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by Caleb Garner, Graduate Assistant/Communications

STARKVILLE – Tyson Carter and Reggie Perry combined for 24 bench points on 9-of-12 shooting to ignite a balanced scoring attack as No. 18 Mississippi State captured a 70-59 victory over Cincinnati on Saturday in-front of a season's best 9,120 fans at Humphrey Coliseum.

The Bulldogs (9-1) extended their non-conference home winning streak to a SEC-best 20 consecutive games and halted a three-game skid to Cincinnati (9-2). MSU has won 14 of the 20 games by 10 or more points during the streak.

For Perry, his 12 points came on a flawless 4-of-4 from the field. It marked the third time in the last five games he has reached double figures. The Georgia native ripped off 10 of his 12 points in the first half.

Carter made it 10-plus points in seven of the team's first 10 games, and the Bulldogs improved to 19-2 over the last two seasons when he hits for double-digit points.

Both players provided signature moments down the stretch. Carter drained a corner three-pointer to put Mississippi State up 10 with 3:46 to go. Moments later, Perry made it a 10-point game again with a two-handed jam through traffic at the 2:15 mark. Lamar Peters created both opportunities with assists.

Once again, Peters displayed the unselfishness of a veteran floor general. He garnered 11 of his team-best 14 points during the second half, while the first seven of his game-leading nine assists resulted in treys for his teammates. The New Orleans native has dished out five or more assists in seven straight games.

Quinndary Weatherspoon chipped in 14 points and six rebounds whereas Aric Holman worked his way to a solid all-around effort with seven points, a game-high 10 rebounds, four assists and three blocks. The three blocks for Holman enabled him to move into sole possession of fifth place on the program's all-time blocks list passing Rickey Brown (1977-78-79-80).

Nick Weatherspoon tacked on eight points and three rebounds followed by Abdul Ado with three points and four rebounds.

Mississippi State outrebounded its opponent for the fifth consecutive outing and won the battle of the boards by a 34-30 margin. Two additional key stats for the Bulldogs were a 16-12 edge in points off turnover and 14 of the game's 23 points on second-chance opportunities.
Mississippi State excelled from three-point range and canned 12-of-23 treys. The trio of Carter, Peters and Quinndary Weatherspoon did the heavy lifting and accounted for for eight of the team's triples. Over the last three contests, the Bulldogs are 45-of-84 from distance.

FROM THE BENCH WITH COACH HOWLAND
"That was a great win over a really good team, a team that's going to win 25-plus games again. They will be in the NCAA Tournament as a high seed. That's why this was so important to beat a really good team. I'm just really proud of our guys. I thought the atmosphere here tonight was electric. The crowd was phenomenal. I'm so thankful to everybody that came to the game tonight in person and supported their Bulldogs. It was awesome. Awesome atmosphere, awesome crowd – our players fed off of that. We held them to 37 percent, out-boarded them, played great defense and shot the ball well from three [going] 12-for-23."

"I thought Lamar was masterful in terms of nine assists, only two turnovers. Reggie Perry gave us a huge lift with his toughness, his physicality and his banging inside. His defense was really good tonight and he got us going early offensively, getting to the line, being tough, being physical and getting fouled. Tyson Carter, that three in the corner, put us up 10, was huge. His dunk in transition on the pass, I think it was from Lamar [Peters], but might have been Q [Quinndary Weatherspoon] actually, was a big play. Nick [Weatherspoon] was saddled with trying to guard their best player as he always is all night. That guy is really good, [Jarron] Cumberland."

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
The Bulldogs needed some momentum shifts to get past the Bearcats during a back-and-forth opening half that contained six ties and five lead changes.

Up 25-24 with 5:33 remaining, Carter knocked down a triple courtesy of Peters on the right wing to make it a two-possession game.

The Bulldogs would eventually take a 37-32 lead at the break. Inside the final two minutes, Quinndary Weatherspoon drove and fought through contact to find Reggie Perry for a layup. Then, Aric Holman connected with Nick Weatherspoon at the top of the key for MSU's seventh trey of the half.

The Bearcats clawed back and responded with 11 of the stanza's first 17 points during the second half to knot the score at 43-43 with 13:35 on the clock.

All square at 45-45, Mississippi State found a seven-point spurt to seize the momentum.

Peters sparked the run with a stepback 17-footer at the top of the key late shot clock. Then, Quinndary Weatherspoon hit a deep trey on the right wing and found Carter for a one-handed jam in transition to make it 52-45 with 8:34 to go.

With just under four minutes left, Carter came up clutch again. He netted a corner triple courtesy of Peters to vault Mississippi State to a 62-52 lead and forced Cincinnati to call a timeout.

Moments later, Perry kept the margin at 10 when he muscled in a two-handed jam over a defender at the 2:15 mark. Peters put the finishing touches on the 11-point triumph with a three-pointer in the closing seconds.

From the field, Mississippi State shot 45.8 percent on 22-of-48 shooting against the No. 4 scoring defense in the nation. On the defensive end, MSU held Cincinnati to just 37.3 percent (19-of-51) from the field. Even more impressive, the Bearcats connected on only 3-of-14 of their three-pointers.

The Bearcats received a game-high 21 points from Jarron Cumberland and 15 points from Keith Williams. Nysier Brooks lead the Bearcats with eight rebounds.

UP NEXT
Mississippi State plays host to another 20-win program from 2017-18 in Wofford on Wednesday at Humphrey Coliseum. Tipoff is on-tap for 7 p.m. CT. The game will be streamed online only courtesy of SEC Network + and the WatchESPN app.

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.