Defense Does Heavy Lifting for Men’s Hoops over South Carolina, 76-61

Saturday, February 23

Starkville

5:00 PM

Mississippi State

20-7 (8-6SEC)

South Carolina

14-13 (9-5SEC)

South Carolina

Mississippi State

Defense Does Heavy Lifting for Men’s Hoops over South Carolina, 76-61

February 23, 2019 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Highlights Press Conference Photo Gallery Box Score (PDF)

by Matt Dunaway, Associate Director/Communications

STARKVILLE – Mississippi State proved the old adage right of it's not how you start, it's how you finish. The Bulldogs wiped away a 16-point first half deficit and turned the tables on South Carolina for a 76-61 victory on Saturday at Humphrey Coliseum.

The Bulldogs (20-7, 8-6 SEC) captured consecutive 20-win seasons for the 10th time in program history and for the first time since the 2008-09 and 2009-10 seasons. Mississippi State came away with its fourth straight win and its sixth victory on the season when trailing at halftime. The six halftime comeback wins are the most for the program since the 2001-02 team overcame seven halftime deficits.

The victory allowed Mississippi State to remain in a sixth-place tie with Florida and pull within one game of South Carolina and Ole Miss for fourth place in the SEC standings.

The Bulldogs blitzed South Carolina (14-13, 9-5 SEC) by a 47-25 margin and limited the Gamecocks to a 32 percent shooting clip during the second half.

Reggie Perry dialed up 17 of his career-high tying 21 points and was a flawless 7-for-7 from the floor after halftime. He also grabbed six rebounds and hit on all seven of his free throw attempts. Perry has rattled off double figures in four consecutive games and eight of his last nine appearances.

Quinndary Weatherspoon added 17 points to extend his run to 11 straight games with 10-plus points. He has 1,884 career points and pulls within 35 of Jim Ashmore (1954-55-56-57) for third place on MSU's scoring list.

Lamar Peters turned in a solid all-around effort with 11 points, nine assists and three steals. He was sensational out of the locker room with 10 points and six assists against one turnover during the second half.

Tyson Carter and Aric Holman chipped in nine points apiece, while Abdul Ado was a force on the interior with seven points and a career-high six blocks. Robert Woodard II secured two points, four rebounds and two blocks to complete MSU's seven-man rotation.

The Bulldogs edged out South Carolina by a 33-32 margin on the glass. Mississippi State also tallied 18 of the game's 26 points in the paint during the second half.

FROM THE BENCH WITH COACH HOWLAND
"That was a phenomenal comeback. To score six points in the first 11 minutes of the game – to keep the fight, to keep believing and to keep trusting. To be able to get it back to seven at halftime, I told the guys 'Hey, we can't play any worse than we did those first 10 minutes.'"

"Our seven guys who played were all huge contributors towards this win, and I'm just really proud of our guys. So thankful to the crowd for the way they continued to encourage and push our guys like they did. I thought the crowd was phenomenal today, just how loud they were."

"We're talking about it [the NCAA Tournament] every day, there's no hiding from it. This was an important step towards that goal. We're 8-6 now. There's no question that nine [SEC wins] gets us in. We want to do better than that because we want to get a better seed [for the NCAA Tournament]. We know that getting to nine, because of our non-conference schedule, will undoubtedly get us in."

"There are high expectations for this team but not everybody has the same schedule in this league. We've had a very tough schedule, and I'm proud of our guys [for] the way they've hung in there. We were 4-6 and now they're 8-6. That says a lot about their character, toughness and their togetherness."

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
South Carolina came out clicking on all cylinders and limited the Bulldogs to a 4-of-18 shooting performance during the contest's first 16 minutes. The Gamecocks used 10 first-half points courtesy of A.J. Lawson to build a 30-14 advantage with 4:04 remaining.

Mississippi State ripped off 15 of the last 21 points of the opening half to close within 36-29 heading into the locker room. Tyson Carter canned a three-pointer, while his steal turned into an Aric Holman dunk inside the last 38 seconds.

Down 42-29 after a Lawson three-pointer at the 18:50 mark, the Bulldogs went to work behind Peters. He knocked down back-to-back treys on the right wing, one that he turned into a four-point play to bring the tally to 41-38 with 17:26 left.

Moments later, Mississippi State took a 46-45 advantage when Peters used a behind-the-back pass in transition to connect with a wide-open Holman for a two-hand jam. Holman tacked on a three-pointer on the left wing to give the Bulldogs a 49-48 edge with 13:41 to go.

Mississippi State kept pushing as Quinndary Weatherspoon took control with three straight baskets inside a 48-second span capped by consecutive driving layups to push the margin to 58-48 at the 10:13 mark.

In total, the Bulldogs put together a 29-7 flurry fueled by holding South Carolina to a pair of field goals over 8:17. Conversely, Mississippi State converted on 11 of its first 14 shot attempts in the second half.

The Gamecocks got as close as six points on two occasions, the latest at 60-54, with 5:24 remaining. However, inside-out action from Reggie Perry to Carter for a trifecta on the left wing followed by nine points from Perry inside the closing 3:56 vaulted MSU to the winner's circle by 15 points.

For the contest, MSU hit 25-of-50 shots from the field (50.0 percent), 8-of-18 shots from three-point range (44.4 percent) and 18-of-20 shots from the foul line (90.0 percent).

South Carolina countered with a 22-of-57 mark from the field (38.6 percent), a 9-of-21 mark from three-point range (42.9 percent) and an 8-of-16 mark from the foul line (50.0 percent).

Mississippi State had 13 assists and 14 turnovers, while the Gamecocks had 12 assists and 15 turnovers.

South Carolina was led by Lawson (18 points) followed by Miak Kotsar (13 points, five rebounds). Leading scorer Chris Silva was held to five points and two blocks.

UP NEXT
The Bulldogs tangle with Missouri on Tuesday to complete a two-game homestand. Tip time is slated for 6 p.m. CT. The game will be televised by SEC Network and available online through the WatchESPN 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.