COLUMBIA, South Carolina – Tyson Carter pumped in a game-leading 24 points, while Reggie Perry collected his 16th double-double of the season, but Mississippi State was handed an 83-71 setback by South Carolina on Tuesday at Colonial Life Arena.
The loss dropped the Bulldogs (19-11, 10-7 SEC) into a fifth-place tie with South Carolina (18-12, 10-7 SEC) in the SEC standings. The two teams stand a half-game behind Florida for fourth place and a double bye at next week’s SEC Tournament. The Gators play at Georgia on Wednesday.
The victory for the Gamecocks gave the home team an 8-2 record over the last 10 meetings since the two teams became home-and-home opponents leading into the 2015-16 season.
The 17 points allowed Perry to become the 17th player in program history to reach 500 points during a season as State nearly overcame an 18-point first half deficit and an 11-point second half hole.
Perry made it three consecutive seasons for a MSU player to pile up at least 500 points during a season for the first time since Jeff Malone accomplished the feat during the 1980-81, 1981-82 and 1982-83 seasons. He joined Jim Ashmore (1954-55), Bailey Howell (1956-57), Rickey Brown (1976-77), Jeff Malone (1980-81), Mario Austin (2001-02) and Jamont Gordon (2006-07) as the only players to reach the club during their sophomore season or earlier.
Perry pulled down a SEC career-high 16 rebounds to secure his 16th double-double of the season and added two assists over an efficient 26 minutes. He was charged with two opening half fouls and picked up his fourth foul with 16:53 left in the second half.
After being saddled with three first-half fouls, Carter exploded for 17 of his 24 points in the second half. He was 7-of-10 shooting, drained 4-of-5 from three-point territory and was 6-of-7 at the foul line. He has amassed double figures in 12 of his 15 appearances and eclipsed the 15-point barrier in five of his last six outings.
Robert Woodard II gave Mississippi State three players in double figures. He worked his way to 11 points, highlighted by eight in the first half, coupled with four rebounds and two steals.
Nick Weatherspoon dialed up nine points and three rebounds whereas Abdul Ado tallied five points, five rebounds and three blocks.
Iverson Molinar and D.J. Stewart Jr. rounded out the scoring for the Bulldogs. Molinar chipped in three points on free throws, while Stewart Jr. tacked on two points, three assists and two steals.
For the contest, MSU limited to a 22-of-56 shooting clip from the field (39.3 percent), 5-of-14 on three’s (35.7 percent) and notched 22-of-27 effort from the foul line (81.5 percent). The 39.3 percentage was the team’s lowest output since the Ole Miss game on 02/11.
State had 11 assists and 14 turnovers, while the Gamecocks handed out 20 assists versus seven turnovers. The Bulldogs grabbed 14 offensive rebounds en route to a 38-33 rebounding edge.
South Carolina shot 32-of-66 overall (48.5 percent), 5-of-22 on three-pointers (45.5 percent) and 14-of-19 at the charity stripe (73.7 percent).
Maik Kotsar fueled the Carolina’s attack with 20 points on his Senior Night. Keyshawn Bryant followed with 12 points and seven rebounds, while A.J. Lawson came away with 12 points and three steals. Jermaine Couisnard impacted the game with eight points and distributed eight of his career-high 10 assists in the second half.
FROM THE BENCH WITH COACH HOWLAND
“Hats off to South Carolina. We weren’t phenomenal tonight with all that was riding on this game tonight from our standpoint. They’re really a good team when you look at how much they’ve improved from November to now. You don’t want to play them. I thought we got off to great start tonight. We’re up 9-4. Then, they go on a 20-0 and a 26-2 run. We did a great job fighting our way back in by getting down two at the half. But, to use all that energy and expend all that energy to be down so big and have to come back from that was really tough on us. I thought that the second half we got off to a slow start. It was their defense. Give them credit, they hurt us.”
“[Maik] Kotsar is such a great player and such a problem. In the first half, he hit four jump shots. He was 4-for-11, but they were all jump shots. He’s like automatic from 17-feet. He’s going to make a lot of money playing basketball for a long time. I thought their point guard, [Jermaine] Couisnard, was just dominant tonight when you look at 10 assists and zero turnovers. That’s a line you want to see from a point guard. That’s incredible … I thought that their bench was really good tonight. They have great depth and a lot of contributors.”
“We had some defensive mistakes, obviously, but give them credit. They’re incredibly good and are so well-coached. I said going into this game to the media back in Starkville, I said playing Frank [Martin’s] team is just like getting a root canal, but that really doesn’t do it justice. Playing his team is like getting a dental implant.”
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Mississippi State built an 11-5 advantage during the opening 4:29 of the contest. The Bulldogs received baskets from Nick Weatherspoon on an and-one layup, a Reggie Perry layup off an offensive rebound and a Robert Woodard II two-hand dunk on a baseline drive.
The Gamecocks turned the tables courtesy of 20 consecutive points and a 26-2 run over the next 6:08 where South Carolina connected on 11 of its 15 shot attempts.
Jair Bolden got the Gamecocks rolling with a pair of three-pointers, and Maik Kotsar capped the flurry with back-to-back jumper to make it 31-13 with 9:01 left.
Mississippi State dug deep and fired back with a 27-7 spurt of its own to close the half. Tyson Carter got the momentum going for the Bulldogs with seven consecutive points to bring the score to 35-22 with 7:11 remaining.
State kept coming courtesy of a Perry buried a three-ball at the top of the key, a Weatherspoon midrange jumper and a Perry two-handed dunk from D.J. Stewart Jr. to get within 35-29 at the 4:57 mark.
Iverson Molinar found Woodard II for a jam to bring the tally to 40-38 at halftime. Perry nearly registered a double-double with 11 points and nine rebounds playing around early foul trouble during the first half.
Two points would be as close as Mississippi State would get as South Carolina settled back in with 10 of the first 14 points of the second 20 minutes. Consecutive jumpers by Keyshawn Bryant and Kotsar placed the Gamecocks up 50-42 with 16:32 to go.
Trailing 65-54 at the 6:22 mark, Carter would knock down back-to-back treys and added a pair of free throws to ignite a stretch of eight of nine points for the Bulldogs. The free throws brought the deficit to 66-62 with 4:39 remaining.
The Gamecocks weathered MSU’s final push by hitting on seven consecutive field goals from the 7:13 mark to the 2:01 mark.
At 66-62, Jermaine Couisnard delivered a clutch corner trey from Kotsar to extend the South Carolina’s advantage back to seven. Then, A.J. Lawson provided an old fashioned three-point play to put the lead back into double figures, 76-66, with 2:26 left.
The Gamecocks closed out the 12-point decision and converted on 5-of-6 at the foul line over the last 95 seconds.
UP NEXT
Mississippi State turns its attention to “Senior Night” and a matchup with in-state rival Ole Miss to finish off the regular season. Saturday’s tip time is set for 5:30 p.m. CT from Humphrey Coliseum. The game will be televised by the SEC Network and carried online courtesy of the Watch ESPN platform.
