Late Run Pushes Unbeaten Colorado State Past Men’s Hoops, 66-63

Saturday, December 11

Fort Worth, Texas

1:00 PM

Mississippi State

6-3,0-0SEC

Colorado State

10-0,0-0Mountain West

Mississippi St.

Colorado St.

MBK - Javian Davis - North Alabama 2021-22

Photo by: Mississippi State Athletics

Late Run Pushes Unbeaten Colorado State Past Men’s Hoops, 66-63

December 11, 2021 | Men's Basketball

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by Matt Dunaway, Director/Communications

FORT WORTH, Texas – Mississippi State men's basketball team nearly knocked Colorado State from the ranks of the unbeaten, but the Rams used a late second half run to collect 66-63 victory on Saturday afternoon at Dickies Arena during the Naismith Hall of Fame Classic.

Garrison Brooks came away with a team-leading 15 points and grabbed five rebounds, while Javian Davis provided a MSU career-high 13 points sparked by a 7-for-8 effort at the foul line off the bench.

MSU's starting backcourt of Iverson Molinar and Shakeel Moore combined for 24 points, eight rebounds, seven assists and five steals.

The Maroon and White ripped off 10 straight points to grab a 23-14 advantage at the 8:15 mark of the opening half. Andersson Garcia connected with a cutting Davis for a two-hand dunk to cap the flurry.

The Bulldogs would take a 29-27 lead into the locker room and extended the advantage back to eight points, 57-49, with 6:16 left as D.J. Jeffries buried a trey followed by a Davis free throw.

Colorado State hit on seven of its next eight field goals and scored 17 of the next 19 points to flip the scoreboard in its favor to 66-59 with 2:23 remaining.

State got back within one possession on a Brooks tip-in at the 1:03 mark. The Bulldogs misfired on a trio of game-tying three-point attempts inside the closing 15 seconds.

FROM THE LOCKER ROOM – COACH HOWLAND
"That was a very tough and hard-fought loss against a very good Colorado State team. I'm disappointed, needless to say. To be up eight in the last six minutes, I think it was 57-49, then struggle offensively and defensively down the stretch to close them out. Colorado State is one of the best offensive teams in the country. Overall, I thought we did a good job keeping them under their average, but they still ended up shooting 47 percent for the game and 42 percent from three-point range."

"I think the problem for us in the second half late in the game was our struggle to make baskets. We were great from the foul line and went 14-for-15 on the game … but we had a couple of really bad missteps down the stretch. At one point, they had a wide-open man in the left corner because we had two men guarding the same guy. We didn't communicate properly and got beat by a wide open shot that helped whittle that eight point lead back down."

UP NEXT
Mississippi State meets Georgia State on Tuesday to begin a three-game sequence in eight days leading into the program's holiday break. Tip time is slated for 7 p.m. CT carried online only via SEC Network+ and the Watch ESPN 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.