Molinar's Late Heroics Lift Men's Hoops Past Kentucky, 74-73

Thursday, March 11

Nashville, Tenn. (Bridgestone Arena)

11:00 AM

Mississippi State

15-13,8-10SEC

Kentucky

9-16,8-9SEC

Mississippi St.

Kentucky

Photo by: Mississippi State Athletics

Molinar's Late Heroics Lift Men's Hoops Past Kentucky, 74-73

March 11, 2021 | Men's Basketball

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

NASHVILLE, Tennessee – Iverson Molinar pumped in eight of his team-leading 21 points during the final 3:07 of the contest headed by the go-ahead free throws with 7.1 seconds left to vault the Mississippi State men's basketball team to a 74-73 victory over Kentucky in Thursday's SEC Tournament Second Round at Bridgestone Arena.

The Bulldogs (15-13) captured their fourth consecutive opening game victory at the SEC Tournament under Ben Howland and advance to face top-seed and fifth-ranked Alabama during Friday's quarterfinal round at 11 a.m. CT televised by ESPN and the Watch ESPN app.

Mississippi State has won two of its last three and three of its last five SEC Tournament matchups with the Wildcats (9-16).

Molinar was an efficient 8-of-10 from the floor highlighted by a pair of three-pointers to bring State back from a five-point deficit inside the last 3:07. The Panama native amassed 16 of his 21 points after intermission to secure double figures in 11 of his last 12 outings and his seventh game of 20-plus points on the season.

D.J. Stewart Jr. delivered a solid all-around effort with nine points, a career-high 10 assists and seven rebounds. The 10 dimes matched the third-most by a MSU player during a SEC Tournament game. The program record is 11 shared by Dee Bost against Vanderbilt 10 years ago to the day, and current Director of Scouting and Analytics Derrick Zimmerman versus LSU on 03/15/2003.

Mississippi State dominated the paint behind Abdul Ado and Tolu Smith, who combined for 25 points and 20 rebounds. Smith compiled his SEC-leading eighth double-double courtesy of 13 points and 11 rebounds to collect his eighth double-double on the season, while Ado's nine rebounds enabled him to surpass Jack Houston (1952-53-54-55) for 10th place on the program's all-time list.

Derek Fountain chipped in five points and four rebounds. State's bench was led by Quinten Post's five points, three rebounds and a block. Javian Davis tallied four point and two rebounds followed by Deivon Smith's three points, three assists and two rebounds. Cameron Matthews added two points and two rebounds to round out the scoring

The Bulldogs came away with a 46-30 rebounding advantage and have outrebounded their opponents in 22 of 28 games this season. The Maroon and White has won the battle of boards by a +10 or more margin on 10 occasions in 2020-21.

The 46 boards were the most for State during a SEC Tournament game since securing 48 against then No. 20 LSU on 03/14/2009, whereas the +16 rebounding spread tied the second-highest margin in program history for a SEC Tournament game when the Bulldogs outboarded Georgia 39-23 on 03/09/1996.

Mississippi State scored 23 of its 30 field goals on the interior en route to a healthy 46-22 edge in paint points. The Bulldogs dished out 16 assists versus 13 turnovers, while Kentucky tallied 18 assists and committed five turnovers.

For the contest, MSU came away with a 30-of-61 overall shooting effort (49.2 percent), a 5-of-17 clip from three-point range (29.4 percent) and a 9-of-11 mark at the foul line (81.8 percent).

Kentucky hit on 26-of-63 from the floor (41.3 percent), converted on 11-of-27 on its triples (40.7 percent) and sank 10-of-17 from the charity stripe (58.8 percent).

The Wildcats had four players in double figures, highlighted by Dontaie Allen who equaled his career-best with 23 points off the bench aided by six treys. He also had 23 points for UK versus State in the regular season meeting. Davion Mintz provided 16 points and eight assists. The Wildcats also received 14 points and five rebounds from Oliver Sarr in addition to 10 points and five rebounds from Keion Brooks Jr.

FROM THE BENCH WITH COACH HOWLAND
"Going to the last shot of the game, my heart was all the way down in the pit of my stomach watching that shot go up. I am so thankful to God that shot curved off, and Abdul got the rebound. Our guys deserved to win the game today. I'm really proud for them."

"I thought Iverson Molinar's two three's in the last four minutes of the game, and the back-to-back threes to go from being down five to up one was huge. Then, for him to get fouled and to have two-shot foul there at the end. Bottom line is, I told him he's making these both, and he did. He showed a lot of toughness, a lot of mental toughness. We're really proud of him."

"D.J. Stewart's [Jr.] 10 assists today were fantastic, absolutely phenomenal. They were trying to double him and get it out of his hands. He made a lot of great decisions today. I'm really proud of how D.J. handled the ball and their pressure."

"We knew we had to take it right at them, which is what we were trying to do in the first half. I thought Abdul in particular was fantastic. Six baskets all in the first half. They were all on really good passes, dump-offs to him. He had a couple really nice moves and was very aggressive. I'm really, really proud of him for how he showed up today. He was a man out there."

"I thought Tolu was very good, nine points in the first half and got to the foul line. He did some really good things for us. It was the game plan to go at them inside for sure in that first half. I thought we did a great job on the glass. I think we were up 14 on the boards in the first half, and we did a great job defensively in the first half."

FROM THE LOCKER ROOM – ABDUL ADO
"I have got to give the guards credit. The guards really looked inside to the bigs. D.J. [Stewart Jr.] had 10 assists. You could tell he was looking for everybody. If we were wide open, he was going to pass you the ball. We figured the first time [against Kentucky], we really didn't play inside-out. We really needed to help the guards outside because it can't be just an outside game the whole time."

"This is great. I can't put it in words how much it means to me. I was just telling Deivon [Smith] that this is the first time I've beaten them since I've been here at Mississippi State. This was an outstanding win for me. But we are just going to enjoy this win for now and get ready to play Alabama tomorrow."

FROM THE LOCKER ROOM – IVERSON MOLINAR
"We're definitely growing as a team. We're learning to close games at the end. Got a little out of hand at the end, about the 10-minute mark. Kentucky had momentum, but we overcame that adversity. We overcame adversity and fought for it. That's why I feel like we got a lot better at from the beginning of the year."

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
After Kentucky put together an 18-4 run which placed the Bulldogs in a 71-66 hole with 3:07 to play, Mississippi State showed resiliency and fight behind its two sophomore guards.

D.J. Stewart Jr. connected with Iverson Molinar for his ninth and 10th assists of the contest for a pair of left wing triples 50 seconds apart to flip the score back in Mississippi State's favor, 72-71, with 2:17 left.

The Wildcats answered on an Olivier Sarr basket to go up 73-72 at the 1:18 mark. The two teams exchanged defensive stops which set the stage for Molinar. He drove baseline and was fouled. The Panama native calmly sank both free throws to vault State back ahead 74-73 with 7.1 seconds left.

Kentucky's Davion Mintz drove the length of the court and found Dontaie Allen for a right wing trey. State's Tolu Smith extended his 6-11 frame to contest which forced Allen to misfire off the back iron. The ball found its way into Abdul Ado's hands as the buzzer sounded to give the Bulldogs the one-point win.

All square at 5-5 with 16:14 remaining in the opening half, Javian Davis rattled home a pair of buckets sandwiched between a Molinar driving layup on the delayed fastbreak to make it 11-5.

The Bulldogs totaled seven assists on their first 10 field goals. Stewart Jr. drove the lane and dropped the ball off to Ado for a one-hand jam, and Tolu Smith tacked on two free throws to put State up 23-14 with 8:47 on the clock.

State grabbed its largest lead of the opening stanza in the closing minutes, 39-25 on a Tulu Smith putback layup and 44-30 on a Deivon Smith dunk from Stewart Jr. in transition.

The Bulldogs took the 44-30 advantage into the locker room. Ado and Tolu Smith did the heavy lifting with 23 of their combined 25 points during the first 20 minutes. State drained 18 of its 19 shots down low and outscored UK, 36-12, in paint points.

The Maroon and White maintained its double-digit points lead to start the second half. Quinten Post drained a top of the key three-ball and added two free throws to bring the scoreboard to 60-50 with 12:15 remaining.

At 62-53 at the 10:43 mark, Kentucky made its move with 18 of the next 22 points over the next seven minutes. Allen registered eight points, while Sarr tacked on a traditional three-point play and Mintz canned a triple of his own to spark the run for Big Blue.

UP NEXT
The Bulldogs advance to face top-seed and fifth-ranked Alabama during Friday's quarterfinal round. Tip time is slated for 11 a.m. CT from Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, televised by ESPN and available online courtesy of 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.