The Mississippi State men’s basketball team opened regular season play Saturday night with a 36-point rout over Southland Conference foe Nicholls State. Led in scoring by Bulldog senior Marckell Patterson, the Dawgs took an early lead and never looked back, leading by as much 40 points. “There are a lot of things we need to improve on, but there were also a lot of positives,” MSU head coach Rick Stansbury said about the Bulldogs’ season-opening win. “It’s always nice to get a win and to get that first game under your belt.”
Leading the maroon in scoring was Marckell Patterson, who netted 21 points, followed by sophomore standout Mario Austin, who poured in 20 points and pulled down 9 rebounds in 25 minutes of work. The Bulldogs outrebounded the Colonels 49-28 for the game but did not have anyone with double digits in rebounding. True freshman Winsome Frazier had a solid game, with 11 points in relief of Timmy Bowers, who left the game in the first half with a possible sprained knee. Details of Bowers’ condition will not be known until later this week.
Junior Derrick Zimmerman had a solid game for the Bulldogs with 11 assists, four steals, four points and only two turnovers in 24 minutes Saturday night.
“I thought Derrick (Zimmerman) played a very nice floor game,” Stansbury said. “He also did not force a lot of shots.”
The Bulldogs were quick out of the gate, scoring the first 8 points of the game but only led by seven with 7:18 left in the first half. The Bulldogs then went on a 23-7 run to go into the locker room with a 23-point lead. Patterson and Austin had 12 points each at the halftime break. The second half wasn’t much different for either squad, when the Bulldogs put a 12-0 run on the Colonels midway through the second half. The Dawgs took their biggest lead of the game with 6:25 left in the game at 40 and eventually won the game 95-59.
Junior Michal Ingerski and sophomore Roy Goffer did not suit up Saturday, due to an unspecified NCAA rule. Ignerski will not be able to suit up until the Bulldogs’ fourth game at Louisiana-Lafayette, and Goffer will rejoin the team against Louisiana-Monroe Dec. 15.
Larry Jones, who had 19 points on the night, paced the Colonels in scoring. Jones was the only Nicholls State player to record double digits in points.
The shorthanded Colonels only got as close as four with 11:14 left in the first half and were never really in the game, as the Bulldogs scored early and often in the opening frame.
Next up, coach Sidney Moncrief will bring his Arkansas-Little Rock club to Starkville on Wednesday night to complete a season-opening three-game homestand.