Men’s Hoops Nonconference Home Winning Streak Ended by Louisiana Tech, 74-67

Thursday, December 5

Starkville

7:00 PM

Mississippi State

6-2

Louisiana Tech

6-2

Louisiana Tech

Mississippi State

Men’s Hoops Nonconference Home Winning Streak Ended by Louisiana Tech, 74-67

December 05, 2019 | Men's Basketball

Box Score VIDEO: Postgame Presser Box Score (PDF)Postgame Quotes (PDF)

by Mikaela Elizondo, Graduate Assistant/Communications

STARKVILLE – Louisiana Tech used a 15-4 run over a 7:29 stretch midway through the second half en route to handing the Mississippi State men's basketball team a 74-67 setback on Thursday at Humphrey Coliseum.

State (6-2) saw its SEC-leading nonconference home winning streak of 26 consecutive games which dated back to the 2016-17 season come to a close.

Tyson Carter piled up a game-leading 20 points fueled by a season's best five three-pointers and dished out four assists. The 20 points marked his fourth 20-point performance of the season and enabled him to surpass Lawrence Roberts (2004-05), Fred Thomas (2013-14-15-16) and Lamar Peters (2017-18-19) into 35th place on the program's scoring list.

Reggie Perry collected his fourth double-double of his sophomore campaign after he amassed 14 points on 6-of-10 shooting and equaled a career-best with 14 rebounds. He also tacked on four assists and registered a career-high three blocks. The 13 career double-doubles for Perry leads SEC active players.

Abdul Ado nearly reached a double-double with a season-high nine points and eight rebounds. He grabbed five of his eight boards on the offensive end. Robert Woodard II worked his way to eight points, four rebounds, two blocks and two assists.

Iverson Molinar and D.J. Stewart Jr. came away with seven points apiece. Molinar dropped in four assists, while Stewart Jr. dished out three assists of his own.

Prince Oduro rounded out the scoring for State with two points off a pair of free throws whereas KeyShawn Feazell tallied two rebounds.

For the contest, MSU hit 25-of-53 shots from the field (47.2 percent), 11-of-23 shots from three-point range (47.8 percent) and 6-of-12 shots from the foul line (50.0 percent).

State notched 18 assists and 13 turnovers, compared to Louisiana Tech's 12 assists and 10 turnovers. The visitors emerged with a 34-31 edge in rebounds.

Louisiana Tech shot 26-of-54 (48.1 percent), 10-for-16 on three-pointers (62.5 percent) and 12-for-19 at the charity stripe (63.2 percent). The Bulldogs had five players in double figures headed by 16 points from Daquan Bracey followed by 15 points and six rebounds from Amorie Archibald.

FROM THE BENCH WITH COACH HOWLAND
"That was a very tough loss against a well-coached team. You have to give them credit and tip your hat. Their veteran players really stepped up. They had great balance. I thought the first half to allow them 57 percent shooting from the field was critical … You can see why they are projected as a NCAA team by [Joe] Lunardi and Bracketology. I am disappointed with our defense tonight. I thought at times our defense was really poor. The first half, we got beat on a set we worked a lot on. We weren't helping on the rolloffs. I felt like they had a lot of layups in the paint during the first half in half-court offense. We allowed them to get 14 offensive rebounds for the game which is way too many offense rebounds."

"We didn't get to the foul line enough either. We got the foul line 12 times. We have to get the foul line more than 12 times, and Reggie Perry did not shoot a foul shot tonight. That is just not enough. We want him to get to the line six-to-eight times a game. But again, credit to them. I think this is a tough pill to swallow. Hopefully, we will learn from it as we come back, watch the film and try to grow as a team and get better."

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Mississippi State raced out to a 10-2 lead at the 17:31 mark, highlighted by a pair of threes by Robert Woodard II and Iverson Molinar within the first 65 seconds of the game.

Louisiana Tech responded with 16 of the next 23 points over the next 5:53 off the clock to take their first advantage at 18-17 lead. A Reggie Perry trey put MSU back on top, 20-18, with 10:35 to go.

The two teams played within three points of each other for the remainder of the first half. Daquan Bracey knocked down a trey at the buzzer to give Louisiana Tech a 39-36 lead heading into the locker room.

State connected on 14 of its 27 shots during the first half, ignited by 5-of-6 shooting courtesy of Perry.

Louisiana Tech extended their lead to five on an Isaiah Crawford dunk to start the second 20 minutes, but MSU took advantage of an Abdul Ado bucket in the paint coupled with a Perry triple to knot the score at 41-41 with 18:09 left.

Trailing 54-49 at the 12:19 mark, State scored six unanswered points in under a minute capped off by a pair of Molinar free throws to take a 55-54 lead. Molinar and Stewart Jr. also turned consecutive Louisiana Tech turnovers into transition layups.

Louisiana Tech fired back with a 15-4 spurt over the next 7:29 to snatch a 10-point edge, 69-59, with 1:58 left. The Bulldogs lived behind the arc and canned a quartet of three-pointers.

Mississippi State countered with triples from Carter and Stewart Jr. inside the final minute to get as close as six points.

UP NEXT
Mississippi State will face its first Power Five nonconference opponent in Kansas State from the Big 12 at the Never Forget Tribute Classic on Saturday, December 14. Tip time is slated for 10:30 a.m. CT from the Prudential Center in New Jersey. The game will be televised by ESPNU and streamed online courtesy of the Watch ESPN platform.

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.