Shane Power was all smiles after Tuesday night’s game against the Florida Gators. His smiles, of course, came from happiness over the win, but they were also smiles of relief.
The monkey that had been on his back since his switch to shooting guard had finally gotten off. He finally had his breakout game at the shooting guard.
“I probably spent 10 or 12 hours in the gym the last two days working on my shots,” Power said. “I think tonight that work paid off.”
Power, who scored a game high 18, was just following orders. MSU Head Coach Rick Stansbury pleaded with Power to take more shots since he is now State’s best jump shooter. He did just that in the Bulldogs 71-57 win over Florida (13-5, 5-2).
“We haven’t talked a lot about shooting with anyone except Shane,” Stansbury said. “He is a guy that needs to be more aggressive on this basketball team, and I thought he was tonight.”
The Bulldogs (17-5, 5-3) needed a big win like the one Tuesday night after the tough loss State suffered at LSU.
MSU, who has not lost back-to-back games since March 16 and 21 of 2003, dug in at critical times to keep control of the momentum.
With just under six minutes left in the first half, power forward Lawrence Roberts was taken out because of two personal fouls. The Bulldogs had a six point lead when Roberts exited.
Florida hit two consecutive threes to tie the game at 25 with three minutes remaining in the opening period. The Dawgs and Gators traded baskets, and neither team had more than a two point lead.
With 1:11 left in the half and the score tied at 30, the Bulldog defense kicked in. State forced two Gator turnovers and held for the last shot.
Gary Ervin penetrated the lane with 10 seconds left in the half and threw up an off balanced shot.
The ball rolled off the front of the rim, and Marcus Campbell tipped the shot in to give the Dawgs a 32-30 lead at the half.
The last second tip in wasn’t Campbell only contribution. The 7-footer was State’s most dominant player in the first frame.
Campbell had 11 points, seven rebounds and five blocks in the first half. He finished the game with 13 points, 11 rebounds and seven blocked shots.
It was his second double-double in conference play, and his seven blocks were just one shy of the school record for blocks in a single game.
“Campbell game us good energy and good effort tonight,” Stansbury said. “I thought he had a presence about himself on the block.”
The Bulldogs opened the second half with the same energy that they ended the first half with.
Power hit a three 40 seconds into the second half to keep the 8,439 fans at Humphrey Coliseum on their feet.
The Gators battled to tie the game at 39 on a free throw by David Lee with 15:30 left in the second half. But that was as close as Florida would get to the Dawgs.
A three-pointer by Power with 6:30 remaining in the game gave the Bulldogs their first double digit lead at 58-47.
The three came midway through a 22-8 MSU took the game from 39-39 to a 62-47 Bulldog lead with four minutes to go.
State’s offense didn’t stop there though. Just 50 seconds later, Power drove the lane and scored the first dunk of his MSU career.
“Coach Cunningham has really been encouraging me to explore it during practice when we are going to the rim,” Power said. “The last couple of weeks I’ve really been getting up there.”
The Bulldog show wasn’t all offensive. MSU held the top scoring team in the conference to 25 points below their season average.
They also held the Gators to just 38.5 percent shooting. State was able to limit the number of open looks the Gator shooters got.
Anthony Roberson, who was averaging 22 points in SEC play, was held to 17 points. David Lee added 15 for Florida but could only muster four points in the second half.
“They (Mississippi State) did a good job against us defensively,” Florida Head Coach Billy Donovan said. “I thought their size caused us some problems in the last 10 minutes of the game. They also hurt us on the boards in the last 10 minutes.”
Mississippi State’s next test comes on the road against a struggling Auburn team. The tip is set for 1 p.m. and will not be televised.