A pair of clutch free throws by Texas A&M guard Danuel House propelled the Aggies to a 68-66 victory over the Mississippi State Bulldogs on Wednesday.
The nail-biting loss marked the second of such fashion for MSU at the hands of the Aggies this year. Earlier in the year, Texas A&M bested the Bulldogs 61-60 in the Hump.
The setback puts the Bulldogs’ record at 12-15 overall and 5-10 in Southeastern Conference play. It also snapped a two-game winning streak in SEC competition for MSU.
Senior guard Craig Sword put forth a stellar offensive effort on the night. Sword posted a season-high 24 points in the losing effort. MSU Head coach Ben Howland told reporters he was pleased with the effort his team showed on the road but also frustrated with the outcome.
“We had too many mistakes to allow us to get out of here with a win,” he said. “We had our chances to beat one of the great temas in the nation on their home floor.”
Both teams came out Wednesday playing tough defensively. Two-time SEC Freshman of the Week Quinndary Weatherspoon broke the game in and scored the first basket of the game. In the first half, Sword knocked down a couple three pointers to help the Bulldogs but rebounding seemed to be a big issue. Texas A&M provided great spacing and ball rotation on the floor to find the open man. Without Gavin Ware in the paint, Mississippi State could not get those extra hustle points Ware seemed to on the court. While the Aggies started to get going with three-pointers from D.J. Hogg, Mississippi State got much needed points from Craig “Chicken” Sword.
Sword and Weatherspoon were the main factors in the first half with the rebounding, scoring, and defense in the first half. As a result, Mississippi State went on a 8-0 run towards the end of the first half. Not to be outdone on their home court, the Aggies managed to knock down a last -second three-pointer to bring the score to 33-29 at the half.
Texas A&M came out of the locker room firing on all cylinders after halftime, pushing the lead to 44-35 less than five minutes in. The Bulldogs, on the other hand, were careless with the basketball. But just as was the case all year the Bulldogs would not go down without a fight.
Craig Sword hit a three-pointer with a little over 10 minutes left in the half to trim MSU’s defecit to 48-45. Sword eventually tied the game at 50 with a layup.
The Bulldogs kept applying offensive pressure on the Aggies and even managed to build a 58-54 lead after consecutive 3 pointers from Newman and junior guard I.J. Ready.
However, the Bulldogs were unable to capitalize on their advantage over the Aggies on the road. MSU came up short on key possessions twice down the stretch of the game. Howland said he felt those missed opportunites proved costly to his squad.
“We had some chances when we were ahead by four,” he said. “I didn’t play the bench as much as usual and we had some guys fatigued at the end. It really impacted us getting the shots we needed when we had a lead.”
In the final seconds of the game, Mississippi State’s Weatherspoon fouled out with MSU down two points after made House sunk his free throws. With under two seconds left in the contest the Bulldogs were unable to get the ball inbounds as a steal by the Aggies sealed the game away. Before fouling out Weatherspoon contributed 14 points in the game. Gavin Ware and Travis Daniels led the team in rebounds with nine each. After the game Howland raved about Daniels perfomrmance on the defensive end, saying it was his best of the season. The Bulldogs managed to outrebound Texas A&M 37-31 but were ultimately doomed by their 15 turnovers.
Next, Mississippi State will face South Carolina in Starkville on Saturday, Feb. 27. Tipoff is scheduled 1:30 p.m. During the nationally televised game, MSU will also recognize the 1996 Final Four team.
