Men’s Hoops Beaten at the Buzzer by LSU, 60-59

Saturday, January 11

Baton Rouge, La.

7:00 PM

Mississippi State

9-6 (0-3SEC)

LSU

11-4 (3-0SEC)

Mississippi State

LSU

Men’s Hoops Beaten at the Buzzer by LSU, 60-59

January 12, 2020 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)WATCH: Postgame Presser

by Mikaela Elizondo, Graduate Assistant/Communications

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana – Facing a 10-point deficit early during the second half, Mississippi State put together a furious comeback effort to take a nine-point lead. LSU was able to respond down the stretch to claim a 60-59 victory on a Skyler Mays buzzer beater on Saturday at the Maravich Center.

Nick Weatherspoon led State's (9-6, 0-3 SEC) offensive output as he filled the box score with a team-leading 14 points coupled with five assists, five rebounds and two steals.

The Bulldogs starting frontcourt of Reggie Perry and Abdul Ado each recorded double-doubles en route to a combined for 25 points and 27 rebounds. Perry dialed up 13 points and 15 rebounds to tuck away his SEC-leading eighth double-double of the season and his 17th career double-double which is tops among SEC active players.

Ado rattled home 12 points and grabbled a season-high tying 12 rebounds. The 12 boards for Ado was one shy of his career-high. The Perry-Ado combo amassed 13 of their 27 rebounds on the offensive end.

D.J. Stewart compiled nine points, all during the first half, whereas Tyson Carter and Robert Woodard II chipped in four points apiece. Woodard II tallied nine rebounds and a career-high four blocks to contribute MSU's 49-31 rebounding edge over the Tigers (11-4, 3-0 SEC).

Carter's four points enabled him to move into a tie for 31st place on MSU's all-time list with his father, Greg Carter. Iverson Molinar rounded out State's with three points.

For the contest, MSU hit 19-of-56 shots from the field (33.9 percent), 3-of-17 shots from the 3-point range (17.6 percent) and 18-of-21 shots from the foul line (85.7 percent).

The 49 rebounds for the Bulldogs marked a season-high and included a season-best 20 offensive rebounds. MSU had nine assists and 18 turnovers, while the Tigers had 11 assists and eight turnovers.

LSU shot 22-of-59 overall (37.3 percent) and 14-of-23 at the charity stripe (60.9 percent). State's perimeter defense limited the Tigers to a season-low 2-of-21 shooting (9.5 percent) from the three-point line.

LSU had three players in double figures sparked by Emmitt Williams who amassed 15 of his team-leading 17 points during the second half. Charles Manning Jr. garnered 15 points on 7-of-9 shooting off the bench, and Mays tacked on 11 points with four steals.

FROM THE BENCH WITH COACH HOWLAND
"That's a really hard one to swallow because I thought our guys battled and deserved to win this game. We overcame a lot of adversity, but obviously we made plenty of mistakes. I thought our defense was absolutely tremendous tonight, they only shot 37 percent. The problem for us, especially early in the game, was that we missed four or five wide-open looks to get us going."

"The only thing that kept us alive in this game was our defense. We were finally able to do something by getting to the free-throw line. Late in the game, we made some bad decisions and missed some opportunities in transition. We had two turnovers that were key, one was where Reggie (Perry) threw the lob to D.J. (Stewart Jr.). I was telling them to push it because you have to hurt them when they are pressing in the backcourt. That was just too high risk of a pass."

"I thought Nick (Weatherspoon) had his best game, he played great defense and was really tough. Reggie (Perry) and Abdul (Ado) each had a double-double. We outboarded this team by 18 rebounds, but for us we just had too many turnovers. We had 18 (turnovers) to their eight which is a 10-point differential."

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Facing a 34-24 deficit with 17:51 to go, State dug deep and put together 17 of the next 21 points over the next 5:01 off the clock. The run was fueled by eight Nick Weatherspoon points and finished off by an Iverson Molinar right wing to turn the 10-point deficit into a 41-38 at the 12:42 mark.

Two layups and a slam by Emmitt Williams allowed LSU to grab the next six points and regain a 44-41 advantage with 10:19 left.

Mississippi State answered with the next 12 points to take its largest lead at 53-44 with 5:18 remaining. The flurry was highlighted by a Reggie Perry one-handed dunk off a nice feed from Weatherspoon, and a Robert Woodard II 12-foot jumper off an inbounds pass from Weatherspoon.

LSU put the game back within arms reach and one possession at 53-51 with 3:09 to go.

Charles Manning Jr. connected a three-pointer to vault the Tigers to a 57-55 edge to start a feverish final 66 seconds which featured three lead changes to close the game.

Weatherspoon knotted the tally at 57-57 on the next possession with a pair of free throws

Weatherspoon tied the game at 57-57 after two free throws with 50.6 seconds remaining. LSU snuck back ahead 58-57 after Williams split a pair at the charity stripe.

With 8.5 seconds left, Perry drove hard to the bucket on an out-of-bounds play and put in a left-handed layup to grab a 59-58 lead in the closing seconds.

After an official review reset the clock to 4.6 seconds, LSU's Mays went coast-to-coast and knocked down the go-ahead jumper just inside the three-point line before the buzzer sounded to bring the Tigers to the 60-59 winning margin.

Mississippi State canned a pair of three-pointers courtesy of Perry on the right wing and D.J. Stewart Jr. on the left wing to take a 6-2 advantage with 17:30 remaining.

LSU turned the contest in its favor with 21 of the next 27 points over a 9:31 time span and forced the Bulldogs to misfire on 14 of their next 16 shot attempts. Mays and Manning Jr. combined for 12 of the 21 points capped by a Mays jumper which made it 23-12 with 7:07 left.

Mississippi State fired back with a 10-2 run of its own to pull back to 25-22 at the 2:36 mark. The Bulldogs found their rhythm in transition as Weatherspoon hit a runner off the glass.

Then, Stewart Jr. ripped off six consecutive points aided by a pair of layups and a midrange jumper on the right baseline, and Weatherspoon wrapped the flurry with a midrange jumper.

LSU closed the half with five straight points to bring the halftime tally to 30-22. The Tigers extended their lead back to double figures at 34-24 with 17:51 to go after back-to-back layups from Williams.

UP NEXT
Mississippi State returns to the friendly confines of Humphrey Coliseum for its next three games starting with Missouri on Tuesday. Tip time is slated for 8 p.m. CT from Humphrey Coliseum. The game will be televised by SEC Network and carried 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.