STARKVILLE, Miss. — The LSU men’s basketball team continued its road woes on Saturday with a 84-61 loss to Mississippi State in Starkville to fall to 1-5 on the road this season.
LSU (12-7, 2-4 SEC) never threatened Mississippi State (16-4, 3-3 SEC) in the final 20 minutes after Torris Bright scored 14 first-half points to keep the Tigers within six at the half. The Bulldogs shot an amazing 62.7 percent from the field (32-of-51) while holding LSU to only 39.3 percent.
With Collis Temple handcuffed by a partially torn tendon in his foot, Bright and Ronald Dupree were forced to pick up the slack offensively. Bright finished with 21 points on 7-of-16 shooting including five three pointers, while Dupree had 18 on 7-of-13 with nine rebounds. No other Tiger was in double figures.
Mississippi State, which improved to 9-0 at home in 2001-02, was led by Guy Harper who had 16 on 6-of-7 shooting.
The Tigers fell behind 11-6 early before going on an 8-0 run led by a pair of Bright three pointers and a Dupree jumper to take a three-point lead, 14-11. Mississippi State answered with a 7-0 run of its own to open up a four-point lead, 18-14, on Ignerski field goal in the paint with 8:14 left in the half.
Another three pointer by Bright gave LSU a 22-21 lead, but again Mississippi State ran out to an eight-point lead with a 12-3 run to lead 33-25 with 3:25 to play.
Still down eight with 1:21 to play in the half, Dupree hit LSU’s fifth trey of the half to cut the MSU lead to 37-32.
Mississippi State led 38-32 at the half after shooting 56.5 percent from the field (13 of 23) including 6-of-9 three pointers.
Bright’s spinning jumper off the glass opened the half and cut the lead to four before Mississippi State’s Mario Austin scored his first points of the game after sitting most of the first half with two fouls. Austin played only four minutes in the first half after averaging more than 20 points per league contest in 2002.
The lead moved to 11, 48-36, as Ignerski scored back-to-back baskets in transition with 16:31 to play in the game. The Bulldogs made 4-of-5 shots to begin the half while LSU was only 2-of-6.
Against a zone defense, JueMichael Young came off the bench to score his first basket of the game, but Austin countered with a second-chance basket on the other end to keep the lead at 11. Bright’s pair of free throws after a steal narrowed the Bulldogs lead to nine, 49-40, with 14:40 to play.
Over the remainers of the game, LSU got no closer than 11 as turnovers and missed shots allowed the Bulldogs to convert easy baskets under their own goal to extend the lead to 16, 58-42, with 11:11 left.
When LSU got the lead down to 11, 67-56 with 4:40 to play, Mississippi State hit a three pointer after a timeout to seal the win.