Bulldogs Come Up Short Against Sooners

OKLAHOMA CITY — The Mississippi State men’s basketball team dropped a 63-62 defensive battle to the Oklahoma Sooners inside Chesapeake Energy Arena on Saturday.

The Bulldogs fall to 12-7 (3-3 SEC), while the Sooners improve to 13-6 (3-3 Big 12).

MSU had a chance to win at the end, but sophomore guard Robert Woodard II missed a jumper near the free-throw line and the Bulldogs wound up dropping the contest.

Woodard II led the team with 15 points on 6-of-15 shooting and grabbed six rebounds. Freshman guard D.J. Stewart Jr. added 12 points on 5-of-11 shooting and a team-high eight rebounds, while senior guard Tyson Carter scored 14 points on 5-of-8 shooting.

Scoring leader Reggie Perry scored just seven points and played only 21 minutes because of foul trouble.

Both teams shot below 40% from the field as a whole. MSU shot 23-of-60 (38.3%), while Oklahoma shot 24-of-62 (38.7%).

The Sooners jumped out to a 17-10 lead with 10:48 left in the first half. They grew the lead to as many as 15 points, but the Bulldogs made a push at the end of the half and cut the deficit to six points at 36-30 with 56 seconds to play.

State went into the halftime break trailing 38-30.

The Bulldogs started the second half on fire, scoring the first eight points and tied the game at 38-38 when Perry banked in a 3-pointer.

However, Oklahoma responded with a 3-pointer, then a breakaway dunk. An alley-oop dunk put the Sooners up by seven at 45-38.

The Bulldogs would then use a 3-pointer by Stewart, a layup by junior forward Abdul Ado and another basket by Stewart to knot things up at 45-45 with 10:53 to play.

The score would remain tight the rest of the way.

Then, with the score being 63-62, Woodard II took shot near the free-throw line for the win, but to no avail, as the Bulldogs lost by one point.

MSU will be back in action on Tuesday when the Bulldogs travel to Gainesville, Florida, to face the Gators. Tip time is set for 6 p.m. CT. The game will be televised by ESPN2.