Auburn
Mississippi State tipped off conference play against the Auburn Tigers inside the friendly confines of Humphrey Coliseum.
The Bulldogs entertained the home crowd of 8,746 with an impressive 90-53 win. The win was MSU’s eighth straight over the Tigers.
Auburn went up 21-20 with just over eight minutes remaining in the first half on a three by the SEC’s leading scorer Toney Douglas as the Bulldog’s offense got off to a slow start.
MSU closed the opening session with a 17-4 run to go up 37-25.
The offense continued in the second half as the Bulldogs shot 67.7 percent from the floor and used a 21-6 run to pull away.
The Bulldogs were once again led by Lawrence Roberts who tallied 19 points and grabbed 15 rebounds. The star forward was just one rebound shy of a double-double at the end of the first half.
Winsome Frazier and Jamall Edmondson both added 12 points while Gary Ervin chipped in 11. Edmondson, a junior college transfer from Meridian Community College, was four of six from three point land.
Despite sharp shooting from the Bulldogs, the win was as much a defensive win as an offensive win. The Bulldogs held the Tigers to just 26.5 percent (18-of-68) shooting from the floor.
State also out-rebounded the undersized Tigers 53-to-33. The Bulldogs limited Douglas to 14 points on five of 16 shooting.
Mississippi
The Bulldog’s first SEC road game sent the “Road Warriors” to Tad Smith Coliseum to match up against heated in-state rival Mississippi Rebels.
The game is traditionally a close match-up with nine of the last 12 regular season game being decided by 10 points of less. This year’s game had the same feel with the Bulldogs pulling out a 87-76 defeat over a scrappy Ole Miss team.
Mississippi State’s offense struggled to adjust to the Rebels’ man-to-man defense and trailed much of the first half. The Rebels, who led by 12 points twice in the first half, hit 10 of their first 15 shots.
The Bulldogs’ fought back from the early deficit to take a 44-37 lead into the locker room. The offensive struggle for the Bulldog was caused partly by the early exit of shooting guard Winsome Frazier.
Frazier left the game midway through the first half with a broken foot. He had surgery to implant a screw and is expected to be out for the remainder of the season.
In the second half Ole Miss tried to cut into the Bulldog lead and got as close as 52-49 on a layup by Tommie Eddie, but the Bulldog went on an 8-0 run to extend the lead to 11 with 14:27 left in the game.
Mississippi State was led in scoring by Lawrence Roberts with 23 and Gary Ervin with 15. Ervin recorded a double-double by dishing out 10 assists to go along with his 15 points.
Ole Miss was led by Tommie Eddie, who scored 17 in his first game back after a one game suspension.
Tennessee
The story for this game is the same as it has been most of the year for the Bulldogs. A sluggish start on the offensive end led to an uphill battle. Only this time the hill was too high to conquer. The Bulldogs had their 16 game road win streak snapped in the 64-63 loss to the University of Tennessee Wednesday night.
The Volunteers attacked from the opening tip and led by 16 at the half.
In the second half the Bulldogs attempted several comebacks but were never able to take the lead.
In the closing two minutes the Bulldogs cut the lead to one on two threes by Shane Power and a layup by Lawrence Roberts.
Tennessee got the ball with 50 seconds remaining and a chance to stretch their lead. After a Bulldog timeout, a missed shot by Volunteer forward Brandon Crump gave MSU one last chance.
With 7.4 seconds left Andre Patterson batted the ball out of bounds under the Bulldog basket. The Bulldogs inbounded a second time and Ontario Harper missed a contested jumper, but once again a Volunteer batted the ball out of bounds.
With time running down, the Bulldogs ran one more inbounds play. The ball came into play to Lawrence Roberts who missed a jumper off the front of the rim.
Roberts and Power led the Bulldog scorers with 23 and 17 respectively. Scooter McFagdon led UT with 14 and Crump added 12.
The Volunteers, who lost their previous game by 25 to Vanderbilt, got their first win over a team in the top 11 since February of 2002 when they beat number seven Kentucky.
In the first game since the injury to Winsome Frazier, the Bulldog offense struggled for cohesion.
MSU had 15 turnovers in the game, including five by point guard Gary Ervin, who dished out only four assists. The Vols picked up 20 points off of Bulldog turnovers.
The loss of Frazier also cut into Bulldog bench production. In State’s first two SEC game the bench averaged 33.5 points but tallied only 13 in the loss.
Jamall Edmondson stepped into the starting spot vacated by Frazier, and finished with six points, one rebound and two turnovers in 21 minutes. Sophomore Dietric Slater also helped fill the void with seven points and three rebounds in 25 minutes.