Late Run Fuels Bulldogs Past Radford

STARKVILLE, Miss. — Down 42-38 at the half, the Mississippi State men’s basketball team battled its way back to defeat Radford, 77-68, Wednesday night at Humphrey Coliseum.

The Bulldogs improve to 8-2, while the Highlanders fall to 3-7.

Sophomore forward Reggie Perry led the offense with a season-high 18 points on 6-of-9 shooting from the field and a perfect 6-of-6 at the charity stripe. He also pulled down nine boards. Redshirt junior forward Abdul Ado recorded his first double-double of the season, scoring 17 points and grabbing 12 rebounds. Sophomore guard Robert Woodard II also put up 17 points on 17 points to go with nine rebounds and and four steals.

Freshman guard D.J. Stewart Jr. finished with 10 points, three rebounds and three assists in his second career start. Senior guard Tyson Carter scored nine points and dished out four assists.

As a team, Mississippi State shot 24-of-52 (46.2%) from the field, 4-of-14 shots from 3-point range (28.6%) and 25-of-30 shots from the foul line (83.3%). The defense held Radford to 23-of-54 shooting from the field (42.6%) and 15-of-32 (46.9%) from 3-point range. The Bulldogs held a 37-26 rebounding advantage.

The Bulldogs jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the opening 1:06 of the contest. They then extended their advantage to 10-3 at the 17:26 mark after a Woodard II steal and shot from beyond the arc.

A Radford 3-pointer cut the deficit to one point at 18-17 with 12 minutes to play before the Highlanders took a 20-18 lead with 11:14 to play in the opening half. They would extend their lead to nine points at 28-19 with 8:23 to play thanks to a 14-1 run.

MSU then scored the next six points to pull back within three points, but the Highlanders’ continued to use 3-point shooting as they extended their lead back out to 37-29 at the 3:42 mark. The Bulldogs then used seven free throws to cut Radford’s lead to just one point. A Radford three-pointer at the buzzer gave the Highlanders a 42-38 lead heading into the locker rooms.

The game remained tight in the second half until the Bulldogs went on a 12-0 run to take a 13-point lead at 75-62 with 48 seconds remaining in the game.

State went on to win 77-68.

The Bulldogs will now take their annual trip to the capital city as the Bulldogs will face New Mexico State on Sunday at Mississippi Coliseum in Jackson, Mississippi. Tip time is slated for 2 p.m. CT. The game will be televised by SEC Network.