Mississippi State Basketball: Mississippi State 95, Iowa State 56
Mississippi State snapped a three-game losing streak emphatically on Saturday, coming away with a 95-56 drubbing of Iowa State. The Bulldogs improved to 10-8 (4-5 SEC) with the blowout win, while Iowa State dropped to 2-9 (0-6 Big 12).
The Cyclones scored the opening bucket, but Mississippi State raced out to a 9-3 lead and never looked back. MSU grabbed its first double-digit lead at 17-6 with 13 minutes to go in the first half.
The backdoor feed from @ToluSmith1 ➡️ @djstewart187 😤#HailState🐶 | 📺 ESPN2 pic.twitter.com/PqpSQZRjAk
— Mississippi State Men's Basketball (@HailStateMBK) January 30, 2021
The Bulldogs led by double-digits for most of the first half and took a 44-28 lead into the locker room. Mississippi State again was led by Iverson Molinar and DJ Stewart in the first 20 minutes of action, who had 12 and 13 points, respectively.
A quick 9-0 run led by Tolu Smith to start the second half put Mississippi State up 53-28 and essentially put the game out of reach with 17 minutes to play. After Deivon Smith‘s layup with 15 minutes to go had State up 59-33, the deficit never got within 25 points.
It was an empty-the-bench type of day for Ben Howland, as reserves Keondre Montgomery, Derek Fountain, Andersson Garcia, and Andrew Junkin all recorded points in the final minutes. The largest lead came with 3:15 left in the game after Garcia’s slam gave Mississippi State a 91-50 lead.
Junkin’s layup with 45 seconds to go capped off the scoring spree for Mississippi State. The Bulldogs took care of the undersized Cyclones from beginning to end in the 95-56 rout. 95 points mark the most MSU has scored this season.
Iverson Molinar led four scorers in double-figures for Mississippi State, finishing with 20 points on 8-13 shooting. DJ Stewart scored 17 on the day, while Tolu Smith posted 16 points and 7 rebounds. Deivon Smith finished with an impressive 10-point, 9-assist performance.
Rasir Bolton led the Cyclones with 18 points, while Tyler Harris finished with 11 in the loss. Iowa State shot just 34% from the field and turned the ball over 21 times.
MSU, of course, dominated the stat book. The Bulldogs shot over 50% on the day, 42.1% from the beyond the arc. They also dished out 21 assists and finished with only 10 turnovers.
Mississippi State returns to SEC play on Tuesday night, with a trip to Bud Walton Arena to battle Arkansas on the horizon. The game is set for 8 PM CT and will be on the SEC Network.