MSU Men’s Basketball Narrowly Loses To No. 18 Arkansas

STARKVILLE, Miss. (MSU Athletics/WCBI Sports) – Craig Sword led a trio of Mississippi State players in double figures with 15 points but in a back-and-forth affair, but No. 18 Arkansas rallied to take a 65-61 win at Humphrey Coliseum. The lead switched hands eight times and the score was tied nine times. The Bulldogs led for a majority of the second half but could not overcome a six-minute scoring draught down the stretch.

MSU fell to 12-15 and 5-9 in conference play, while Arkansas improved to 22-5 and 11-3. The Razorbacks have now won five conference road games for the first time since 1994.

Sword led the offense with a 5 of 12 night from the field, including a 4 of 8 night at the free throw line. Gavin Ware fell just shy of a double-double with 13 points and a game-high nine rebounds. Travis Daniels added 11 points.

“I would like to give our kids a lot of credit for coming in and playing hard against a really good Arkansas team,” MSU coach Rick Ray said. “It was tough to come back after a tough loss against Ole Miss. Our kids did a pretty good job without I.J. Ready. It is hard to play Arkansas without our best ball handler.

“We had 23 turnovers. You don’t give yourselves a chance to win a game like this when you give the ball away.”

The contest was tight throughout.

The Bulldogs used a 12-2 run to build a 23-15 lead. Demetrius Houston and Sword scored back-to-back baskets capped the run. The Bulldogs still led 25-18 after a jumper by Craig Sword.

Arkansas closed within a point twice, including a 33-32 deficit at halftime.

Arkansas built an early 40-36 lead four minutes into the second half. The Bulldogs followed with seven straight points and took a 43-40 lead on a 3-pointer by Daniels.

The Bulldogs stretched the lead to 48-43 with 10:27 left after two free throws by Daniels.

MSU still led 54-52 after a free throw by Sword with 6:34 left. However, the Bulldogs did not scoring again until a trey by Sword with 33 seconds left made it 60-57.

“We can be an elite defensive team if we stopping the turn ball over,” Ray said. “Our guys are making progress. We just have to turn things around and make sure that we start winning these games.”

For the contest, MSU hit 22 of 53 shots from the field (41.5 percent), 3 of 10 shots from 3-point range (30.0 percent) and 14 of 21 shots from the foul line (66.7 percent). Arkansas hit 19 of 54 shots from the field (35.2 percent), 3 of 15 shots from 3-point range (20.0 percent) and 24 of 31 shots from the foul line (77.4 percent).

MSU held a 42-31 rebounding advantage. The Bulldogs had seven assists and 23 turnovers, while the Razorbacks had 10 assists and 14 turnovers.

Arkansas received 16 points from Rashad Madden, 14 points from Michael Qualls, 13 points from Bobby Portis and 11 points from Anton Beard.

MSU will close its three-game home stand by playing host to No. 1 Kentucky Wednesday night. In the annual “Black Out” game, the Bulldogs and Wildcats will meet at 6 p.m. from the Humphrey Coliseum. The game will be shown nationally by the SEC Network.