MSU men’s basketball downs Ole Miss in rivalry game

STARKVILLE, Miss. (WCBI) — Mississippi State men’s basketball defeated Ole Miss 83-71 on Wednesday at Humphrey Coliseum. The Bulldogs split the season series with the Rebels with Wednesday night’s win.

Mississippi State got out to a hot start, quickly building a 20-8 lead. But Ole Miss followed that up with a 22-11 run to pull themselves within a point. The Rebels took their first lead with 4:31 to go in the first half, going up 34-33.

Ole Miss went into halftime up 44-40. The Rebels came into this game 15-1 when leading at the half under head coach Chris Beard. But the Bulldogs wouldn’t let that happen again.

The game had it all — even a 3-pointer from MSU forward Cam Matthews.

Mississippi State and Ole Miss traded the lead back and forth to start the second half. But after the first 10 minutes, MSU started to pull away thanks to trips to the free throw line and domination down low.

MSU forward Tolu Smith feasted down low all game. He led the Bulldogs with 24 points and six rebounds. State scored 42 of its points in the paint.

Matthew Murrell was Ole Miss’ leading scorer with 23 points.