When Winsome Frazier made his return to the Mississippi State backcourt with 13:30 left in the first half, the crowd of 9,637 erupted.
The senior guard made an immediate impact as he connected on his first two three point shots.
But it wasn’t quiet enough as the Bulldogs (18-7, 6-5) fell to the LSU Tigers (14-8, 7-4) 80-72.
“I probably didn’t expect him (Frazier) to play very well, to tell you the truth,” MSU head coach Rick Stansbury said. “For a guy that has not done anything for six to seven weeks, he had a great night.”
Frazier, who finished the game with 11 points in 24 minutes, entered the first half with the Bulldogs down by nine at 18-9.
His entrance spurred an 18-5 Bulldog run to put State up 27-23 with 10:09 left in the first half. Frazier had six of his points on two three pointers during the run. The first came at the 11-minute mark and tied the game at 18. The second came less than a minute later and put the Dawgs up 21-20.
“I was just happy to be out there with my teammates again. I came out onto the floor and wanted to be the same person I was before I left it,” Frazier said. “Everything feels OK, I had a little pain but overall everything felt ok.”
However, LSU answered with a 9-0 run of its own. Guard Darrel Mitchell hit two out of three free throws to tie the game at 27 with 7:45 left in the first half.
Antonio Hudson then capped the run with a lay-up with 6:30 remaining to put the Tigers up 32-27.
With 2:30 remaining and the score tied at 37, LSU hit the final two shots to go up 41-37 at halftime.
“The thing I really liked about our team is that we showed some resiliency on the road in front of a tough crowd,” LSU head coach John Brady said.
Things were looking better for the Bulldogs as the second half opened. Shane Power, who led MSU with 20 points, hit his fourth three-pointer of the game to cut the Tiger lead to one, and an Ontario Harper free throw tied the game at 41.
But then it all went wrong for State. LSU executed a 20-6 run to take their largest lead of the game at 47-63 with 10:27 remaining in the game.
“You just have to look at it and see that they out hustled us on our home court and that is unheard of,” Harper said.
MSU battled back and cut the lead to five on a lay-up by Harper, who finished the game with 11 points, with 3:17 left in the game.
However, that was as close as the Bulldogs would get. At the three-minute mark, State forward Lawrence Roberts fouled out and was replaced by center Marcus Campbell.
With Roberts on the bench, the Tigers pushed the lead out to as much as nine. Tack Minor’s jumper with 49 seconds remaining put LSU up nine and sealed the victory for the Tigers.
“I think they (LSU) showed more toughness when that game was on the line than we did,” Stansbury said. “We just did not play with the extra zip that we have been playing with at home.”
Also on the MSU bench down the stretch was point guard Gary Ervin. Ervin had six points but did not provide the scoring Stansbury was looking for. He was replaced by Jamall Edmondson who has made only three three-point shots in the last five games.
Roberts earned another double-double with 13 points and 14 points but was outmatched by LSU combination of Brandon Bass and Glen “Big Baby” Davis. The Tiger’s back line scored a combined 40 points and corralled 26 total rebounds.
“I have said from day one that they have the best frontcourt in the league in Brandon Bass and Baby Shaq (Davis),” Stansbury said.
The loss snapped MSU’s 12-game home unbeaten streak. MSU had a 16-game road unbeaten streak ended on Jan. 12 at Tennessee.
“This is very devastating. I hate losing at home, and I want to apologize to the fans,” Power said. “We have dug ourselves into a hole.”
t from three point land on the last six games.
á Winsome Frazier’s 11 point outing was the 13th time he has scored in double figures this season.
á The last time MSU was swept in a season series was 1999-2000 season when the Bulldogs were swept by Auburn and Arkansas.
á LSU Head Coach John Brady was a Bulldog assistant from 1983-1990.
á Winsome Frazier got his superman cape out of the cleaners today and will be in costume for Saturday’s game in Lexington so you can stop worrying Rick.