The Mississippi State Bulldogs survived a case of the first round jitters against the McNeese State Cowboys in a 70-58 victory in Dallas. Despite trailing most of the first half, the Bulldogs rallied to take a 31-25 lead into the American Airlines Center locker room at halftime. “The big difference in the game was the last six minutes of the first half,” said senior guard Guy Gardner.
In that span, State went to a full court press that disrupted the McNeese offense and served as a catalyst for the Bulldog offense.
“You are always happy to get the first game underway,” Bulldog coach Rick Stansury said. “I thought our quickness got us the lead at halftime.”
Quickness, and getting the ball to sophomore center Mario Austin. Austin scored 14 straight in the first half en route to his 25 for the night.
“We wanted to work inside out. Mario works on the inside and when he is covered he kicks it outside,” said guard Timmy Bowers.
Senior swingman Marckell Patterson also came up big, scoring 20 off of 9-11 from the field.
Guards Derrick Zimmerman and Bowers combined for 21 more, making the Bulldog offense too stout for the Cowboys, who managed to get just two players in double figures.
McNeese guard Damond Williams posted 15, while center Fred Gentry added 11.
MSU’s defense forced 22 turnovers that led to 21 transition points. No points were more certain than when Zimmerman at 6 feet 2 inches attacked the basket and threw the ball down over 7 foot 1 inch Raynell Brewer.
Zimmerman’s slam caused the greatest uproar of the mostly Texas Longhorn crowd.
“I guess I surprised him. He (Brewer) didn’t know that this small guard could get up like that,” said Zimmerman.
Now the Bulldogs will have a tougher challenge upon them. Sunday, they will face the Texas Longhorns in Dallas. The Longhorns got out to a blitzing start against Boston College, and then held off the second half comeback efforts of the Eagles. Every time that BC was on the verge of tying the game, the thousands of Longhorn fans stood and shouted, providing a distinctive home court advantage. Sunday those same fans were back.
Texas head coach Rick Barnes said that he didn’t think that the crowd phased Boston College. However, numerous times when BC was close, the crowd got into
it and the Eagles made a turnover. Stansbury told his team that the crowd won’t be playing, but the Texas players will be the only people in the building that can stop the ‘Dawgs