Carter Eclipses 1,000 Career Points as Men’s Hoops Dumps Tulane, 80-66

Thursday, November 21

Conway, S.C. (HTC Center)

1:00 PM

Mississippi State

5-0

Tulane

3-1

Mississippi State

Tulane

Carter Eclipses 1,000 Career Points as Men’s Hoops Dumps Tulane, 80-66

November 21, 2019 | Men's Basketball

Box Score VIDEO: Highlights Tyson Carter: ESPN Postgame Interview VIDEO: Postgame Press Conference Box Score (PDF)

by Matt Dunaway, Associate Director/Communications

CONWAY, South Carolina – Tyson Carter became the 40th member of Mississippi State's 1,000-point club and secured his first career-double with 16 points and a career-best 11 rebounds as the Bulldogs dialed up an 80-66 victory over Tulane during Thursday's quarterfinal round of the Myrtle Beach Invitational at the HTC Center on Coastal Carolina's campus.

The win enabled Mississippi State (5-0) to snap a three-game skid in regular season tournament openers which dated back to 2014-15 and advance to Friday's semifinals where the Bulldogs will meet No. 17 Villanova (3-1). Tip time is set for approximately 1:30 p.m. CT televised by ESPN2.

Carter amassed all 16 of his points in the second half. He was 4-of-5 from the floor ignited by a trio of three-pointers. The Starkville native also grabbed seven of his 11 rebounds during the second 20 minutes. He went over 1,000-point barrier on a breakaway dunk off a KeyShawn Feazell steal and outlet at the 11:21 mark. He and his father, Greg Carter, are the first father-son combo with 1,000 career points apiece to both play in the SEC.

Iverson Molinar racked up a season's best and game-leading 21 points coupled with a season-high tying five assists. He hit on six of his eight shots attempts headed by four treys and connected on all five of his foul shots.

Reggie Perry worked his way to 18 points, his highest scoring output versus a non-conference opponent, to bring his streak to five straight games in double figures to start the season. He was an efficient 7-of-8 from the floor and chipped in five rebounds, two assists and two steals before he fouled out.

Robert Woodard II turned in seven points and four rebounds whereas Abdul Ado notched two points, nine rebounds and two assists.

MSU's bench play was sparked by Feazell, Prince Oduro and D.J. Stewart Jr. who combined for 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting. The trio also accounted for eight rebounds, six assists and three steals.

For the contest, MSU knocked down 26-of-43 shot attempts (60.5 percent), 11-of-20 from three-point territory (55.0 percent) and 17-of-21 (81.0 percent) at the free throw line. The 60.5 shooting clip was MSU's fourth-best under Ben Howland. The Bulldogs also dominated the battle the boards with a healthy 41-16 advantage.
State handed out 19 assists against 25 turnovers, while the Green Wave (3-1) compiled 13 assists and 11 turnovers.

Tulane shot 23-of-59 overall (39.0 percent), 9-of-25 on three-pointers (36.0 percent) and 11-of-12 from the charity stripe (91.7 percent). The Green Wave were led by 12 points apiece from K.J. Lawson and Christion Thompson. Jordan Walker added 11 points, six assists and three steals for Tulane.

FROM THE BENCH WITH COACH HOWLAND
"Happy to get the win, they're a hard team to play against. The only thing I'm disappointed in is there were too many turnovers. Everything else was great. You out-board a team by 25 rebounds is great. Our defense was outstanding today. We did a real good job pressuring them. Our hedging was good, the field-goal percentage defense was outstanding. Tyson (Carter) had 10 rebounds on defense, which is real exciting for me. To have our guards rebound for us is going to be critical for us moving forward."

"Abdul Ado – there are so many things about him that don't show up on the stat sheet. His defense and his changing of shots were critical. Reggie Perry was dominant. We've just got to keep him out of foul trouble. He scored 18 points in 20 minutes."

"This is a difficult matchup zone because they pressure out of it. We got tired late in the game and had some turnovers. Give them credit, they forced a lot of them. We're going to have to man up tomorrow (versus Villanova) because we're going to see intense man-to-man pressure right in your grill."

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
The Bulldogs built a 19-9 lead during the first 7:12 of the contest on the strength of a combined 15 points courtesy of Reggie Perry and Iverson Molinar. The pair connected on a trio of triples.

Tulane pulled within 31-27 on a K.J. Lawson jumper with 3:29 remaining before Mississippi State regrouped with five straight points to close the half. Molinar found KeyShawn Feazell on the right wing for triple inside the last 10 seconds to bring the tally to 36-27 at the half.

Up 42-34 at the 17:20 mark, the Bulldogs ripped off 14 of the next 17 points over the next 3:15 to stretch the lead to 19 points. Tyson Carter kickstarted the run with a pair of three-pointers, and Robert Woodard II provided the finishing punch with back-to-back buckets to make it 56-37 with 13:26 left.

Mississippi State continued its hot second-half shooting and drained 11 of its first 13 field goal attempts. The Bulldogs took their largest lead at 70-45 off a Molinar three-pointer with 8:07 to go.

UP NEXT
Mississippi State meets its first ranked opponent of the 2019-20 campaign and battles No. 17 Villanova during Friday's semifinal round at the Myrtle Beach Invitational. Tip time is scheduled for approximately 1:30 p.m CT. The game will be televised by ESPN2 and available online via 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.