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No. 20 MSU Rallies Late To Upend Alabama
STARKVILLE,
Miss. – Fueled by another raucous crowd at Humphrey Coliseum, Dee Bost
managed some late-game heroics for a second-consecutive game in another
tight SEC matchup as No. 20 Mississippi State rallied late for a
thrilling 56-52 victory against Alabama.
Bost, the All-SEC standout, drained three 3-pointers in the closing minutes to ignite the comeback.
“Dee
Bost, who has been struggling, is one of those guys who can step up at
any given time and make shots,” MSU coach Rick Stansbury said. “We live
with some of his bad shots, because you never know when he is going to
get on a roll. Dee got on a roll at the right time for us tonight.”
After
the Dogs went 0-14 beyond the arc to start the game, the senior guard
nailed three from long range within the final four and a half minutes.
Bost’s final trey, coming with 1:35 remaining, gave the Dogs a 51-48
lead, one they would not relinquish.
Mississippi State
(15-3, 2-1 SEC) led by as many as 10 in the contest, but Alabama (13-4,
2-1) kept up the fight, even grabbing the lead in the concluding
minutes.
A driving lay-up by Trevor Lacey with 6:53 left
gave Alabama its first lead since the 5:15 mark in the first half. With
momentum gaining for the Tide following a JaMychal Green slam, Bost
drained his first three of the night, sending the Hump into a frenzy.
Bost’s second 3 would tie up the game and give State all it needed to
grab a big SEC victory.
“That was a hard fought SEC game,”
Stansbury said. “I did not think either team could get a lot going
offensively, but defensively, both teams really fought. I am awfully
proud of our team for the way they won tonight.”
Junior
forward Arnett Moultrie submitted another stellar performance with 25
points and 13 rebounds, earning his SEC-best tying ninth double-double.
Moultrie found success early and often in the paint, scoring 20 of his
25 down low.
“Our guards did a pretty good job
penetrating,” Moultrie said. “(Renardo) Sidney and myself got a lot of
dump offs. So tonight our guards did a lot of attacking on the rim, and
it worked for us.”
Moultrie paced the Dogs throughout the
majority of the game, including scoring 14-straight from the 4:35 mark
in the first half to the 17:45 mark in the second half.
“He
(Moultrie) was very impressive,” Alabama coach Anthony Grant said.
“When you look at his numbers, he had a great impact on the game.”
For
the contest, the Bulldogs hit 22 of 55 shots from the field (40.0
percent), 3 of 17 beyond the arc (17.6 percent), and 9 of 12 from the
charity stripe (75.0 percent). The Crimson Tide shot 23 of 51 from the
field (45.1 percent), 1 of 9 from long range (11.1 percent), and 5 of 5
from the free throw line (100.0 percent).
State held the advantage in rebounding (34-30).
Moultrie
led all scorers with his 25 points and 13 rebounds. Bost added 17
points, nine coming in the final five minutes, and four assists.
Green led the Crimson Tide with 14 points, while Tony Mitchell led the team in rebounds with 10.
The
Bulldogs hit the road for their next SEC matchup, heading to Ole Miss
at 8 p.m. Wednesday. The game will be televised on CSS. State will
continue on the road to Nashville, Tenn., to face the Vanderbilt
Commodores. The nationally televised matchup will tip at 6 p.m. on ESPN
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