Mississippi State Impresses in Saturday Road Victory at LSU

BATON ROUGE, La. (WCBI/MSU Athletics) — Mississippi State placed five players in double figures as the Bulldogs won their first true road game of the season, taking a 95-78 win against LSU Saturday at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.

Aric Holman led the Bulldogs with 17 points to go along with his 9 rebounds. Lamar Peters totaled 15 points, while Quinndary Weatherspoon had 14. Also in double figures were I.J. Ready with 13 points and Mario Kegler 11. Ready matched a season high with eight assists.

MSU improved to 10-4 overall and 1-1 in conference play, while LSU fell to 9-5 and 1-2. The Bulldogs snapped a four-game losing streak in this building, winning here for the first time since 2011.

The 95 points scored were the most this season and the most scored at the P-MAC. The Bulldogs shot a season-best 54.1 percent from the floor, with a season-high 33 field goals on 61 attempts.

“That was a great win and a great performance by our team. We really responded well after a disappointing loss at home against Alabama to open up SEC play,” MSU coach Ben Howland said. “I thought offensively today we were much better in terms of being patient and making the extra pass. To score 95 points on 64-percent shooting was phenomenal.”

The lead switched hands eight times before the Bulldogs took the lead for good at 21-20 on a pair of free throws from Holman. It was the start on an 11-0 run as a layup by Schnider Herard capped the run and gave the team a 30-20 lead with 6:38 left in the half.

Holman would later cap another 11-0 run with a 3-point basket as the Bulldogs sprinted to a 46-27 lead with 1:56 left in the half. The Bulldogs finished with their highest-scoring half of the season and led 52-33 at halftime.

The Bulldogs kept the pressure up in the second half. A 3-pointer by Kegler capped an 8-0 run for a 60-35 lead with 17:31 left in the contest. The Bulldogs maintained a lead of 20 or more for most of the half, stretching the lead to a game-best 26 at 71-45 with 10:12 left.

LSU would later use a 13-4 run to close within 14 in the closing minutes.

“Give them credit too,” Howland said. “We had a nice lead and they never gave up. They fought back and cut it to 11 or 12 if I remember correctly in the second half. What I remember is they were down against Vanderbilt big and cut it to a two-point loss. We’re excited about the win.”

For the contest, MSU hit 33 of 61 shots from the field (54.1 percent), 11 of 22 shots from 3-point range (50.0 percent) and 18 of 25 shots from the foul line (72.0 percent).
LSU hit 29 of 72 shots from the field (40.3 percent), 9 of 27 shots from 3-point range (33.3 percent) and 11 of 17 shots from the foul line (64.7 percent).

MSU held a 40-39 rebounding advantage. The Bulldogs had 17 assists and 14 turnovers, while the Tigers had 15 assists and 14 turnovers.

LSU received 19 points from Duop Reath, 17 points from Antonio Blakeney and 10 points from Skylar Mays. Reath added 13 rebounds to complete the double-double.

“I think it was really good for our team, especially heading into our next road game (Arkansas on Tuesday),” Weatherspoon said. “Also for the younger guys to get some experience because they hadn’t gotten a lot of chances, but this was a good win for us.”

MSU remains on the road for an 8 p.m. start Tuesday at Arkansas. The game will be shown nationally on the SEC Network from Bud Walton Arena.