Bulldogs Fall To Alabama 68-63 On Senior Day
Post Game Quotes
Post Game Notes
STARKVILLE, Miss. (AP) -- Kennedy Winston had 21 points and No. 21 Alabama clinched the SEC West title with a 68-63 victory over Mississippi State on Saturday.
Ronald Steele gave Alabama the lead for good when his 3-pointer with 2:20 left began a 9-0 run. It helped wrap up the Crimson Tide's first division crown since 2002 and an opening-round bye in next week's SEC tournament.
Mississippi State tied it at 55-all on Dietrich Slater's twisting layup with 2:44 left.
But Steele countered that with a 22-footer from the left wing and Alabama forced three consecutive stops to open up a 64-55 lead with 57 seconds remaining. The Bulldogs didn't get closer than four the rest of the way.
It was a reversal of last season, when Mississippi State clinched the West title on Alabama's home court. This time, a Crimson Tide loss would have given the crown to LSU.
Steele and Jean Felix each had 13 points, and Earnest Shelton added 11 for Alabama (23-6, 12-4), which had been targeted by the Bulldogs ever since a 49-point rout last month in Tuscaloosa that was one of the worst losses in Mississippi State history.
Alabama coach Mark Gottfried played his starters until the final minutes of that 98-49 rout, and some Bulldogs players vowed to settle the score this time.
Though Alabama led for most of the way, this one wasn't nearly as easy, with seven ties in the second half.
Lawrence Roberts had 13 of his 15 points in the second half and finished with 11 rebounds for Mississippi State (21-9, 9-7). Ontario Harper had 14, Shane Power scored 13 and Winsome Frazier added 10.
It was the final game inside Humphrey Coliseum for Roberts and five other Mississippi State seniors. But one of them, 7-foot center Marcus Campbell, didn't play after pulling a calf muscle during a shootaround.
That forced the Bulldogs to use a smaller lineup with four guards, and Alabama packed its zone defense around Roberts and dared Mississippi State to make shots from the outside. For most of the way, the Bulldogs couldn't.
Mississippi State shot barely 24 percent, missed its first 13 3-pointers, went nearly seven minutes without a field goal and trailed by as many as 10.
Yet Alabama led just 26-22 at halftime and allowed the Bulldogs to make things interesting early in the second half.
Mississippi State trailed 30-23 before Frazier hit two straight from beyond the arc and Power added another during a pivotal 90-second stretch which tied it at 32-all with 16:24 remaining.