Mississippi State handles South Carolina on the road, wins second straight game – The Dispatch

STARKVILLE — In a number of latest video games, Mississippi State males’s basketball let a lot of its momentum slip away at or simply earlier than halftime.

Tuesday was fairly a unique story for a workforce that has seemed a lot totally different recently.

Quite than fade within the closing minutes of the primary half, the Bulldogs (14-8, 2-7 Southeastern Convention) closed the interval on an 11-4 run that spurred them to a cushty 66-51 highway victory over South Carolina (8-14, 1-8 SEC) on Tuesday night time at Colonial Life Area.

“We wanted to get a highway ‘dub,’” Mississippi State coach Chris Jans mentioned. “We wanted to get an SEC win within the worst means.”

MSU turned a one-point deficit right into a six-point lead on the break and cruised from there, selecting up the tempo and cracking down on protection to stretch its lead.

The Bulldogs have been led by guard Shakeel Moore, who scored a career-high 22 factors and chipped in 4 rebounds, three assists and three steals.

Moore, who made three 3-pointers and scored 11 factors in Saturday’s time beyond regulation win over TCU, made two triples Tuesday and completed 9 of 11 from the sphere.

His large recreation helped the Bulldogs win back-to-back video games for the primary time since Dec. 14 and Dec. 17 towards Jackson State and Nicholls State, respectively.

“We acquired that style out of our mouths,” Moore mentioned. “We had a shedding streak happening. We capitalized on it and acquired two back-to-back wins. It’s good for us. We continued to battle and execute.”

That’s been the case for the Bulldogs all season, from their 11-0 begin to their five-game SEC shedding skid to their latest resurgence.

And beginning with a heartbreaking three-point loss Wednesday at Alabama, MSU’s high quality of play has elevated considerably.

The Bulldogs shot 52.9 p.c from the sphere Tuesday night time and made 75 p.c of their free throws, each encouraging indicators for a workforce with an inconsistent offense.

An exquisite sequence that includes a Moore 3 then a behind-the-back go from Cameron Matthews to Tolu Smith for a fastbreak dunk was the proper instance of Mississippi State’s enchancment. The five-point spurt pushed MSU’s result in a game-high 20 with 2:07 to play.

The Bulldogs led by double digits for all the closing 7:38 after the second of two free throws by Smith, who completed with 15 factors and went 5 of 6 on the line.

New Hope product Tyler Stevenson added 12 factors, scoring six of them in a three-minute stretch within the first half that stored MSU afloat early on.

The Bulldogs final trailed on a 3-pointer by Meechie Johnson with 4:25 left within the first half. They scored the following six factors, capped by a jumper from Moore, and took a 32-26 lead into the break.

Six straight MSU factors out of halftime pushed the result in double digits, and the Gamecocks couldn’t get better. Gregory “GG” Jackson II and Johnson every sank 3s to chop the lead again to 6, however South Carolina by no means acquired nearer.

Barely three minutes later, a 3-pointer from MSU’s D.J. Jeffries made it a 14-point recreation.

“Our workforce continues to stay collectively and battle collectively, and I simply assume we pulled it away,” Moore mentioned.

Driving the excessive of its newfound successful streak, Mississippi State will host Missouri (16-5, 4-4 SEC) at 5 p.m. Saturday. The Tigers are one spot exterior the AP Prime 25 after a win Saturday over No. 13 Iowa State.

Theo DeRosa stories on Mississippi State sports activities for The Dispatch. Observe him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.