Late Game Defense Fuels Mississippi State Basketball Past Wildcats

NEWARK, N.J. — The Mississippi State men’s basketball team played tough defense down the stretch in a 67-61 win over Kansas State inside the Prudential Center at the Never Forget Tribute Classic on Saturday.

With the win, Mississippi State improves to 7-2, while Kansas State falls to 6-4.

Four Bulldogs finished the game scoring in double figures, with senior guard Tyson Carter leading the team with 14 points on 3-of-13 shooting, He knocked down 7-of-10 free throw attempts.

Redshirt junior forward Abdul Ado finished with 13 points on 6-of-7 shooting, while sophomore guard Robert Woodard II added 12 points on 4-of-7 shooting to go along with 10 rebounds for his second double-double on the year. Freshman guard D.J. Stewart Jr. chipped in with 10 points.

As a unit, the Bulldogs shot 23-of-58 (39.7%) compared the Wildcats’ 14-of-43 (32.6%), including just 6-of-22 (27.27%) in the second half. The second half for Kansas State included a 1-of-12 finish from the field.

Rebounds were knotted up at 36-36 for the contest.

The game was tight early on with the score being tied 12-12 with 11:12 left in the first half. The Wildcats then led by as many as 12 points at 27-15 with 7:38 to play in the opening half, but State closed with an 11-2 run to make it 32-32 at the halftime break.

The second half was also tight early on before Kansas State pushed its lead to 49-43 with 9:07 left in the game. MSU didn’t take the lead again until Stewart put the team ahead, 59-58, with a layup with 3:11 left to play.

The Bulldogs outscored Kansas State 16-6 to close out the game en route to a 67-61 win.

MSU will be back in action Wednesday when they host Radford at Humphrey Coliseum. Tip time is set for 7 p.m. CT.