Mississippi State 75, West Virginia 62
December 03, 2011 11:51 PM | General
Arnett Moultrie scored 21 points and grabbed 13 rebounds and Dee Bost added 17 points to lead 21st-ranked Mississippi State to a 75-62 victory over West Virginia Saturday night in the final game of the Big East/SEC Challenge in Starkville, Miss.
The Bulldogs used a 23-10 run over the remaining 7:38 to improve to 8-1 on the season. A key point in the game came with 5:32 remaining and the Mountaineers trailing by four when freshman Pat Forsythe’s pass at the top of the key was intercepted by Bost for a dunk to give Mississippi State a six-point lead.
“It’s a four-point game, we catch it at the top of the key, we don’t square up and we stand and stare at a guy,” said West Virginia coach Bob Huggins. “You know what happens to quarterbacks when you stare at one receiver – the ball gets intercepted.
“It’s the same thing in our game – if you stare at one guy, and particularly as long as he held the ball, they’re going to run through the ball. He ran through the ball and they went up six and we never really got back into it after that,” said Huggins.
Sidney Lewis added a layup to push the lead to eight, 62-54, and after a Truck Bryant three-point play in the paint, Moultrie’s follow-up basket and Jalen Steele’s 3 from the corner – both against a 1-3-1 defense - gave the Bulldogs a 10-point lead with 2:24 remaining.
“We couldn’t guard them so we had to play matchup (zone) and it bothered them,” said Huggins. “It really slowed them down, but they’re going to figure it out. We went 1-3-1. It bothered them and then we let a guy come right down the middle without blocking anybody out and let him tip it in just like we did in the Kent State game. Those things we are not good enough to overcome.”
Mississippi State hit eight straight free throws down the stretch to grow its lead to as many as 16 points before another three-point play by Bryant ended the scoring.
West Virginia hung around early by pounding the glass and getting follow-up baskets. Kevin Jones and Deniz Kilicli scored 14 points each – all from close range – and the Mountaineers had a 34-29 advantage on the boards for the game.
Where the Mountaineers really struggled was from outside the paint where they were just 2 of 15 from 3 – Jones and Bryant were a combined 1 of 12 – and they finished the game hitting 23 of 58 overall for just 39.7 percent.
“Kevin Jones can’t get into foul trouble. He did. Kevin Jones can’t go 1 for 6 from 3, and he did,” said Huggins. “Truck goes 5 for 14 (from the floor). We’re not going to win when that happens.”
Bryant added 13 points and Jabarie Hinds contributed 10 for West Virginia, which falls to 4-2.
Steele finished the game with 10 for the Bulldogs.
“We got killed by the ball screen and you can’t work any harder on ball screening than what we worked defending it,” said Huggins. “They got at least four dunks in the half court off the screen and roll and we didn’t make a rotation. There’s no way that ought to happen.”
The Mountaineers are in the middle of a difficult stretch of games. Next Thursday night (Dec. 8) West Virginia will play Kansas State in Wichita, Kan., and then two nights later, takes on Miami on Saturday night at the Coliseum.
The Bulldogs used a 23-10 run over the remaining 7:38 to improve to 8-1 on the season. A key point in the game came with 5:32 remaining and the Mountaineers trailing by four when freshman Pat Forsythe’s pass at the top of the key was intercepted by Bost for a dunk to give Mississippi State a six-point lead.
“It’s a four-point game, we catch it at the top of the key, we don’t square up and we stand and stare at a guy,” said West Virginia coach Bob Huggins. “You know what happens to quarterbacks when you stare at one receiver – the ball gets intercepted.
“It’s the same thing in our game – if you stare at one guy, and particularly as long as he held the ball, they’re going to run through the ball. He ran through the ball and they went up six and we never really got back into it after that,” said Huggins.
Sidney Lewis added a layup to push the lead to eight, 62-54, and after a Truck Bryant three-point play in the paint, Moultrie’s follow-up basket and Jalen Steele’s 3 from the corner – both against a 1-3-1 defense - gave the Bulldogs a 10-point lead with 2:24 remaining.
“We couldn’t guard them so we had to play matchup (zone) and it bothered them,” said Huggins. “It really slowed them down, but they’re going to figure it out. We went 1-3-1. It bothered them and then we let a guy come right down the middle without blocking anybody out and let him tip it in just like we did in the Kent State game. Those things we are not good enough to overcome.”
Mississippi State hit eight straight free throws down the stretch to grow its lead to as many as 16 points before another three-point play by Bryant ended the scoring.
West Virginia hung around early by pounding the glass and getting follow-up baskets. Kevin Jones and Deniz Kilicli scored 14 points each – all from close range – and the Mountaineers had a 34-29 advantage on the boards for the game.
Where the Mountaineers really struggled was from outside the paint where they were just 2 of 15 from 3 – Jones and Bryant were a combined 1 of 12 – and they finished the game hitting 23 of 58 overall for just 39.7 percent.
“Kevin Jones can’t get into foul trouble. He did. Kevin Jones can’t go 1 for 6 from 3, and he did,” said Huggins. “Truck goes 5 for 14 (from the floor). We’re not going to win when that happens.”
Bryant added 13 points and Jabarie Hinds contributed 10 for West Virginia, which falls to 4-2.
Steele finished the game with 10 for the Bulldogs.
“We got killed by the ball screen and you can’t work any harder on ball screening than what we worked defending it,” said Huggins. “They got at least four dunks in the half court off the screen and roll and we didn’t make a rotation. There’s no way that ought to happen.”
The Mountaineers are in the middle of a difficult stretch of games. Next Thursday night (Dec. 8) West Virginia will play Kansas State in Wichita, Kan., and then two nights later, takes on Miami on Saturday night at the Coliseum.
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