Late Georgia Run Sinks Mississippi State

ATHENS, Ga. (AP) – Yante Maten scored 24 points in his return to high-scoring form and Georgia pulled away with a 12-3 run late in the game to beat Mississippi State 79-72 on Tuesday night.

A 3-pointer by Mississippi State’s Xavian Stapleton with 6:29 remaining tied the game at 54-all. Georgia answered eight straight points, including a jam and two free throws by Maten, to start the 12-3 run.

J.J. Frazier had 17 points, all in the second half, for Georgia (15-11, 6-7 Southeastern Conference). Georgia has won two straight following three straight losses to ranked teams.

Quinndary Weatherspoon, Lamar Peters and Mario Kegler each had 14 points for Mississippi State (14-11, 5-8), which has lost three straight and five of six.

Maten, third in SEC with 19.2 points per game, scored only seven points before fouling out in a season-low 17 minutes in Saturday’s 76-75 win at Tennessee. He didn’t pick up his first foul against Mississippi State until almost five minutes into the second half.