National Basketball Association
Mississippi St. 57, Vanderbilt 54
When: 4:00 PM ET, Saturday, January 17, 2015
Where: Humphrey Coliseum, Starkville, Mississippi
Officials:
# Kevin Fehr, # Tim Gattis, # Mike Nance
Attendance:
6568
By SportsDirect Inc.
Mississippi State 57, Vanderbilt 54: I.J. Ready led a balanced attack with 11 points as the host Bulldogs snapped a 16-game losing streak in SEC play.
Fred Thomas scored 10 points off the bench for Mississippi State (8-9, 1-3 SEC), which overcame a 12-point first-half deficit despite shooting 38.6 percent overall. Gavin Ware added seven points and a season-high 13 rebounds while Roquez Johnson and Craig Sword chipped in eight points apiece.
Damian Jones scored 21 points on 9-of-13 shooting to pace the Commodores (11-6, 1-3), who have lost three in a row. Riley LaChance added 12 points while the rest of the Vanderbilt starters combined to go 3-of-14 from the floor.
LaChance hit a 3-pointer late in the first half to put Vanderbilt up 26-14 but the hosts scored the final four points of the stanza and were within 29-23 on Travis Daniels' triple early in the second. Thomas' four-point play sparked a 12-0 run capped by a Ware jumper that gave the Bulldogs a 42-35 advantage midway through the half.
Johnson answered Luke Kornet's 3-pointer with a three-point play to put the hosts up 49-43 with under seven minutes left but the Commodores crawled back into a tie at 52 on LaChance's free throws with 97 seconds left. Ready answered with a clutch tiebreaking 3-pointer and then hit two free throws with 9.4 ticks remaining before Wade Baldwin IV missed a 3-point try before the buzzer.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Baldwin's miss on a potential game-tying shot at the end made him 0-of-6 from the floor, including 0-of-5 from beyond the arc. ... Vanderbilt was 9-of-17 from the line while Mississippi State went 20-of-27. ... The Bulldogs' SEC losing streak was the second-longest in league history.
Top Game Performances
Vanderbilt |
|
Mississippi St. |
Damian Jones 21 |
Scoring |
I.J. Ready 11 |
Wade Baldwin IV 7 |
Assists |
Craig Sword 3 |
Damian Jones 8 |
Rebounds |
Gavin Ware 13 |
Damian Jones 3 |
Free Throws Made |
Craig Sword 6 |
Wade Baldwin IV 4 |
Steals |
Roquez Johnson 2 |
Luke Kornet 1 |
Blocks |
Travis Daniels 1 |
Team Stats Summary
Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
Vanderbilt
|
54 |
38.5 |
5-20 |
9-17 |
8 |
22 |
2 |
8 |
7 |
Mississippi St.
|
57 |
38.6 |
3-12 |
20-27 |
6 |
39 |
3 |
5 |
17 |