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STARKVILLE, Miss. — The Mississippi State men’s basketball team was defeated by Louisiana Tech, 74-67, Thursday night at Humphrey Coliseum.
State held an early 10-2 lead after sophomore forward Reggie Perry knocked down a jumper with 17:31 left in the opening half.
Louisiana Tech then took an 18-17 lead after knocking down a pair of free throws with 10:59 left in the half.
A 3-pointer by Perry made it 20-18 before Tech knotted things up at 20-20. The game remained close the rest of the half with neither team leading by more than three points. And with the score tied 36-36, Tech’s DaQuan Bracey knocked down a buzzer-beating triple to go into the halftime break with a 39-36 lead.
Tech opened up the scoring in the second half to take a 41-36 lead, but a jumper by redshirt junior forward Abdul Ado and a 3-pointer by Perry knotted things up at 41-41 with 18:09 left to play.
State then trailed 54-49 with 12:19 to play before a 6-0 run saw MSU take a 55-54 lead. The lead was short-lived, however, as a triple by Tech made it a 57-55 game. It was part of a 10-0 run for Tech to increase its lead to 64-55 with 6:13 to play.
A late 3-pointer by Carter cut the deficit to to six points at 73-67 with 16 seconds to play. Tech then knocked down a a free throw to end the game’s scoring at 74-67.
Carter led all players with 20 points on 6-of-15 shooting, including 5-of-13 from 3-point range and 3-of-4 from the charity stripe.
Perry also finished with a double-digit scoring performance, putting up 14 points on 6-of-10 shooting to go with a game-high 14 rebounds for his fourth double-double of the season.
As a team, MSU shot 25-of-53 (47.2%) from the field, which included 11-of-23 (47.8%) from beyond the arc. State shot 6-of-12 from the charity stripe. The defense allowed Louisiana Tech to shoot 26-of-54 (48.1%) from the field, which included 10-of-16 (62.5%) from 3-point range.
State was outrebounded 34-31 in the contest and was outscored 16-10 in second chance points.
Mississippi State will be back in action Saturday, Dec. 14, when the Bulldogs face Kansas State at 10:30 a.m. CT inside the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, for the fourth annual Never Forget Tribute Classic. The game will be televised by ESPNU.