Shane Power was a game time decision for the Mississippi State Bulldogs. The senior guard had battled a virus for a good part of the week and experienced some dizziness during the team warm-ups for Saturday’s game against the Vanderbilt Commodores.
Luckily for head coach Rick Stansbury and the rest of the Bulldog roster, Power was able to play. He had 16 points in State’s (18-6, 6-4 SEC) 60-54 win over the ‘Dores (14-10, 4-6).
“I wasn’t sure Shane was going to play. Shane’s been sick and running a high fever,” Stansbury said. “I’m glad he made the decision to play.”
Power’s offensive presence spurred on MSU’s 11-0 run in the first 4:30 of the game. During the run, Power scored eight of the 11 Bulldog points.
“I wanted to get my best shots from the tip and see how it went from there,” Power said. “That really helped to fuel me and fuel my team.”
Vanderbilt’s first points came on a Mario Moore lay-up with 16:12 remaining in the first half. Eight minutes later, at the 8:02 mark in the half, the Commodores trailed by nine, 20-11.
Vandy outscored State 10-4 over the next six minutes and cut the lead to five at 24-19.
But State tightened up and did not allow another Vanderbilt field goal in the half.
MSU also scored on six straight free throws to stretch the lead back to 11. Vanderbilt’s Corey Smith connected on two free throws at the end of the first half to cut the lead back to nine and send the Bulldogs into the locker room leading 30-21.
“They did what they had to do to win the game, and we couldn’t quite make enough plays,” Vanderbilt head coach Kevin Stallings said. “We dug ourselves a little bit of a hole at the beginning.”
The ‘Dores scored the first two points of the second half on a dunk by Julian Terrell which cut the Bulldog lead to seven.
The Bulldogs battled back and seemed to have complete control of the game when Lawrence Roberts, who scored 15 points and collected 14 rebounds in the game, hit one of two free throws to push the lead to 14 with 10:17 left in the game.
But just when the Bulldogs thought they had a tight grip on the game, Vanderbilt made a comeback.
Vandy’s Dan Cage made a lay-up to start a 14-0 run for the Commodores. The run was spurred by lethal three point shooting from reserve guard Alex Gordon. Gordon had nine points, all on three pointers, during the run.
With 7:12 remaining in the game, DeMarre Carroll hit a three which capped the Vanderbilt run and tied the game at 47.
“I think we had a 14- or 15-point lead and Vanderbilt made a charge at us,” Stansbury said. “All of a sudden, those three-point shots started dropping for them. They are the type of team that can really shoot the basketball when they get on a roll.”
With the game on the line, the Bulldog’s refocused.
“Sometimes during a game we have lapses and we knew we just had to buckle down and concentrate,” Roberts said. “We had to play aggressively and knock down some shots on the offensive end.”
And that is just what they did. State followed the Vanderbilt run with an 8-0 run of their own. The Bulldogs connected on six of eight free throws during the run.
But the Commodores weren’t ready to give up either. They answered the Bulldog run with a 7-2 mini run. A trey from Shan Foster, who finished with a team-high 14 points, cut the lead to three at 57-54 with 1:40 remaining.
Roberts connected on one of two free throws with 1:30 left to make the game a two possession game at 58-54. But a Gary Ervin foul gave Vanderbilt a chance to cut into the Bulldog lead with the clock stopped with a minute left.
The normally sharp-shooting Gordon, an 82 percent free throw shooter, missed the front end of a one and one and Roberts secured the rebound and game for State.
“We found a way to dig in during the last three minutes of that basketball game,” Stansbury said. “I thought we turned it up defensively to another level.”
Game Notes
* Lawrence Roberts was held scoreless in the first half for the first time in his Bulldog career.
* Roberts’ 15 points and 14 rebounds earned him his 51st career double-double. He leads all active players in this category.
* Roberts and Vandy’s Corey Smith were high school teammates at Lamar High School in Houston, Texas.
* Roberts is just 97 points shy of becoming the 27th member of the Bulldog 1,000 point club. He would be the only Bulldog to accomplish this in two years.
* Shane Power led the Bulldog scoring for the third straight game.
* Winsome Frazier was in uniform for the first time since breaking his foot during the Jan. 8 game against Mississippi.
* The win over Vanderbilt extended the Bulldog home unbeaten streak to 12 games.