Despite not leading for more than 38 minutes, Mississippi State found a way to win Saturday as it beat the Stars of Oklahoma City University 67-65 in the Bulldogs’ final preseason exhibition.
OCU, a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, has won the last two NAIA national championships and is currently ranked No. 1 in the NAIA polls.
The Bulldogs, two-time reigning SEC West champions, struggled to find a rhythm in the first half and shot only 28 percent.
In the first four minutes of the game, the Stars pushed out to a 10-point lead, thanks in part to former Indiana Hoosier Jamarcus Ellis hitting his first three three-point attempts. Ellis finished with a game-high 26 points and played all 40 minutes along with junior guard DaVell Jackson.
Each of the OCU players had to play a lot of minutes as the Stars only dressed out seven players. The Stars were without their leading scorer, senior Rodney Alexander.
At the first scheduled timeout, MSU coach Rick Stansbury shook up his lineup, making substitutions at all five positions.
“The second bunch came in and gave us a little energy in the first half,” Stansbury said. “They played hard and gave us some energy.”
The fresh legs seemed to help the Dawgs, as they cut the the Stars’ lead to four over the next five minutes. As seemed to be the case all too often, however, OCU managed to end that run with a key three-pointer.
“Every time you think you’d make a little run, Ellis would jump up and make a shot,” Stansbury said.
The Stars pushed the lead back to nine before MSU’s starting lineup returned to the game. State cut into the lead once more and went into the half trailing by four.
Junior center Jarvis Varnado, who managed only one point in the first half, said he felt like he had to play better in the game’s final period.
“In the first half, we did not have a lot of energy, so I had to come out in the second half and step it up,” Varnado said.
Varnado didn’t take long to establish himself in the second half, slamming down a dunk just 13 seconds into the half.
He finished the game with 12 points to go with his 13 rebounds and eight blocks.
The rest of the Bulldogs couldn’t assert themselves quite as easily and were unable to do much damage to the Stars’ lead.
That changed with a pivotal call late in the half, when first-year OCU coach Kevin Morrissey was whistled for a technical foul with 3:20 remaining. Morrissey had argued a called turnover by Ellis.
The Bulldogs hit six straight free throws, followed by sophomore Ravern Johnson’s three-pointer, to give the Dawgs their first lead of the game inside of two minutes remaining.
The teams swapped buckets and MSU held on to preserve the win.
Morrissey had no qualms about taking responsibility for the game’s turnaround.
“I told my guys just now that that was my fault completely. I take full responsibility,” he said. “I didn’t maintain my composure. I was a little flabbergasted at the call.”
That foul gave the Bulldogs an opening, and they seemed to sense it would be their last.
“That last three and a half minutes of the game we started to get a sense of urgency about us, like we thought we could lose the basketball game. I thought we played a little bit,” Stansbury said.
Varnado agreed that the team had a sense of urgency toward the end.
“Everybody was fighting to try and win the game,” he said. “We didn’t want to lose.”
Stansbury said the team should benefit from the close call.
“That’s why we play these games. It was good for us,” he said. “The positive thing is we found a way to win. It’s good when you can find a way to dig in late when you’ve struggled from behind all night long.”