You can call it a defensive struggle. You can call it a poor shooting night for both teams. Whatever you choose to call it, just make sure you call it a win for Mississippi State, as the Bulldogs outlasted and outpaced the Texas - San Antonio Roadrunners 53-42 Tuesday night at the Humphrey Coliseum.
Wendell Lewis led all Bulldog scorers with 20 points, while freshman Craig Sword chipped in 13 points of his own. Flat top Fred Thomas added 9 points, and Roquez Johnson contributed 7 points of his own.
You can check out the full statistics from last night's game here.
Also see: HailStateBeat Recap | Clarion-Ledger Recap
As the final score indicated, this one was far from an offensive display last night. State shot 45.7% (21-46) from the floor on the night, while limiting the Roadrunners to just 27.3% (15-55) shooting for the game. Coach Rick Ray had this to say about the defensive struggle between the two teams last evening:
"I am extremely proud of the defensive effort tonight," Ray said. "We knew we would have to win some ugly games this season. I thought we really played extremely well on the defensive end. We won one of those rugged, tough physical ballgames. When you play that well on the defensive end, good things will happen for you.
Even though it was far from pretty, a win is a win, and that is all that matters. State is now 3-5 on the young season, and most importantly, 3-0 at home. The Bulldogs will now take a break from the court to take their finals, and will return to action December 15th against Loyola-Chicago in Chicago, Illinois, in a game that will commemorate one of the banner moments in Mississippi State basketball history. More to come on that in the upcoming weeks here at FWtCT.