Mississippi State men’s basketball tops Winthrop 84-63

JACKSON, Miss. — Four Bulldogs scored in double figures as the Mississippi State men’s basketball team topped Winthrop 84-63 Tuesday night at Mississippi Coliseum.

With the win, the Bulldogs improve to 9-3, while the Eagles fell to 6-6.

Junior guard Iverson Molinar led MSU with 22 points on 6-for-10 shooting, while junior forward D.J. Jeffries scored 19 on 8-for-12 shooting and added six rebounds and four assists. Graduate forward Garrison Brooks finished with 15 points on 6-for-10 shooting to go with five rebounds. Sophomore guard Shakeel Moore added 10 points.

As a team, the Bulldogs shot 54.7% from the field and made 9-for-21 (42.9%) from 3-point range. The Bulldogs outrebounded the Eagles 31-22. MSU came into the game averaging 11.3 more rebounds than its opponents, which is good for seventh in the nation.

Winthrop was led by redshirt junior forward D.J. Burns Jr. with 20 points on 9-for-11 shooting. Sophomore forward Kelton Talford shot 4-for-5 and finished with 12 points off the bench, but the rest of the Eagles shot just 9-for-33 (27.3%).

Molinar scored the first two baskets of the game and Brooks added a three-point play to give the Bulldogs an early 7-1 lead.

A jumper by Molinar gave MSU a double-digit lead at 24-14 with 10:08 left in the first half. The Bulldogs outscored the Eagles 21-12 over the final 7:11 to go into the halftime break with a 47-28 lead.

MSU continued its dominance in the second half as Winthrop never managed to come closer than 15 points. MSU went on to win 84-63.

The Bulldogs will return to action Wednesday, Dec. 29, when they open Southeastern Conference against Arkansas at 8 p.m. CT inside Humphrey Coliseum.