“I’d call that a signature win,” one Bulldog fan told her husband after Mississippi State University’s come-from-behind overtime win against Texas A&M Saturday. 
It was a signature win head coach Rick Ray said the Dogs hope to carry into their next game Wednesday against Auburn. 
“Here’s the key, from this point on, is how do we deal with this success? I told our guys I don’t know about them, but I plan on having to deal with success a lot,” he said. 
Ray mentioned that after MSU beat Ole Miss, the Dogs went to Tuscaloosa and lost to Alabama by 19 points, so he said he hopes this time the team can build off of this win when Auburn comes to town. 
The Tigers will visit Humphrey Coliseum looking for their first conference win as one of just two SEC teams winless in league play.
Coming into Saturday, A&M was one of two undefeated teams in the SEC, but balanced play from the Dogs put a blemish on the Aggies’ record. Four of the five Bulldog starters finished with double digits scoring, led by sophomore Craig Sword with 23.
Trailing through most of the game, MSU came back and tied the game late in the second half. But after an Aggie bucket and a missed layup by Sword, it looked as if the Dogs would have to foul and put A&M on the line. Just as the thought crossed fans’ minds, sophomore Gavin Ware ripped the ball away and put up the layup to tie the game.
Ware, who finished with 22 points and 10 rebounds, said he felt like he had a chance to step up against a smaller Aggie team.
“Coach always told us, ‘Once they get the rebound just get back,’ but that one I saw the five man had the ball, and I tried to get back, but the stride of my hand hit the ball, and I had it so I decided to score,” Ware, who scored the first six points of the game for the Dogs, said. “I felt this was my ‘time to eat’ as people say, so I used that advantage to my ability and found a way to grind it out and was able to score in the post. We made sure our bodies were physically ready for an all-out war today (Saturday) because that’s what it was.”
Aggie head coach Billy Kennedy praised Ware throughout his post-game press conference. He said his team’s poor response to the officiating combined with Ware’s presence down low was too much to overcome.
“Gavin Ware just wore us out and did a good job. He’s really a good player,” Kennedy said. “He’s a big, strong, powerful guy whose hard to move off the block. He just finished around the basket like kids are supposed to do. He can make a layup. If you can find a big guy in college basketball who can make a layup, you’re gonna be a good team.”
Once the Dogs stopped the Aggies on the final possession to keep the score tied at 67, overtime belonged to MSU. State outscored A&M 14-5 in extra play and shot 52.7 percent from the field throughout the game against the SEC’s best field-goal-percentage defensive team.
Ray said his team possessed the ball well offensively, which was a point of emphasis. He said after he watched the Alabama game film, he noticed his team shot the ball with 26 seconds left on the shot clock on average in the first half and with 25 seconds left on the shot clock in the second half.
“I was disappointed that a team I was coaching wasn’t sharing the basketball and using the shot clock, so they had a directive not to shoot a three unless the ball hit the paint,” Ray said. “We made them make mistakes because we massaged and worked the shot clock.”
The Dogs will look to build on this momentum when they take on Auburn at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Hump.