MSU Hoops drops Alcorn State 60-42

Mississippi State returned home for the first time in two weeks tonight and quickly erased all the bad memories from an 0-3 road trip to Hawaii with an easy 60-42 win tonight over the Alcorn State Braves. Man, it sure feels good to be back in the win column!

The win pushed State's record to 2-4 on the young season, while the Braves fell to 2-5.

State was led by 14 point nights each from freshmen Fred Thomas and Craig Sword. Sword also chipped in 4 rebounds, 2 assists and 5 steals in 34 minutes of play, while Thomas contributed 5 rebounds, 2 assists and two steals to go along with his double digit scoring effort. Joining Thomas and Sword in the double digit scoring column was Roquez Johnson, who added 13. Gavin Ware pulled down a team high 12 rebounds to go with his 7 points, and Colin Borchert - fresh off his suspension - chipped in 6 points in just 15 minutes of play.

Overall, State shot 41% from the field, while limiting the Braves to 28.3%. State out-rebounded Alcorn, quite authoritatively, collecting 50 to the Braves' 20.

There's not much I can add about this game tonight because I did not watch or listen to it, but from the reports I saw on Twitter, it seemed like another high energy, high effort night for State. Only this time, the results were in our favor. These games are still winnable this year, even for a thin team such as ours, so enjoy nights like tonight. The guys played hard, and were able to attain a fairly easy win. And it seems more and more like these freshmen are growing up fast.

State will return to action this Saturday when they travel to Providence, Rhode Island to take on the Friars of Providence in the Big East / SEC Challenge. The game is set to tip at 11a.m. and will air on ESPNU.

Hail State