MSU Upends LSU

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STARKVILLE, Miss. (MSU Athletics) – A season-high 18 points by Fred Thomas and a boisterous Humphrey Coliseum crowd helped lead Mississippi State to a 73-67 win against LSU Saturday afternoon. In a contest that featured nine ties and nine lead changes, MSU closed the contest on a 19-10 run to win its second conference game at home.

“That’s a great win for our guys and the program,” MSU coach Rick Ray said. “There is no doubt LSU is an NCAA tournament team. They have some guys who will play in the NBA. That is probably the second-most talented team in the league, so, that was a huge win.

“LSU is the No. 1 scoring team in the league, and we did a great job with them defensively. Then on top of that we did some things offensively to help us get a win.”

MSU improved to 10-11 overall and 3-5 in league play. LSU fell to 16-5 and 5-3. MSU snapped a four-game losing streak in the series.

Thomas was followed in the scoring column by Craig Sword with 14 points. Gavin Ware and I.J. Ready each added 12 points. Ware posted his 12th career double-double with 10 rebounds. Roquez Johnson just missed a double-double with nine points and 10 rebounds.

“This was a great win because we know they are an NCAA team,” Ready said. “We really focused on playing 40 minutes and not 30 minutes. We knew we played great against Georgia and Ole Miss, and we know we are good team. So we just focused on playing 40 minutes. When the other guys get down, it is my job to get them back up.

“We have made a lot of strides as a team.”

MSU held a plus-seven rebounding advantage and shot 50 percent from the field in the second half.

Both teams struggled offensively in the first half. A tip-in by Oliver Black pushed the MSU lead to 13-8 with 11:59 left in the half. A 3-pointer by Ready ran the advantage to 18-12 with 7:48 left.

The lead was pushed to seven points before LSU grabbed a 24-23 lead with an 8-0 run.

The Bulldogs regrouped and led 31-28 at halftime.

“We just had to defend and rebound better in the second half,” Thomas said. “We are playing with a lot of confidence right now even though we lost the last couple of games. Coach told me my job was to defensive rebound and bring energy. So that is what I tried to do.”

The Bulldogs built a 44-40 lead on a Sword jumper with 14:05 left. The Tigers fought back to take leads of 55-52 and 57-54.

A dunk by Johnson gave the Bulldogs the lead for good at 58-57 with 3:26 left. After some early struggles, the Bulldogs hit their final eight free throws to close out the win.

For the contest, MSU 23 of 52 shots from the field (44.2 percent), 4 of 11 shots from 3-point range (36.4 percent) and 23 of 35 shots from the foul line (65.7 percent). LSU hit 26 of 69 shots from the field (37.7 percent), 4 of 23 shots from 3-point range (17.4 percent) and 11 of 21 shots from the foul line (52.4 percent).

LSU held a 43-40 rebounding advantage. The Bulldogs had 12 assists and 13 turnovers, while the Tigers had 10 assists and 15 turnovers.

LSU received a game-high 25 points and 20 rebounds from Jordan Mickey. Keith Hornsby added 15 points and Josh Gray added 13 points.

MSU returns to the road for a Tuesday night contest at Tennessee. The Bulldogs and Volunteers meet at 6 p.m. CT with the game being broadcast nationally on the SEC Network from Thompson-Boling Arena.