STARKVILLE — Mississippi State senior point guard Dee Bost finally admitted Saturday he’s not enjoying tension-filled home wins.
With 3:29 left in a tight Southeastern Conference battle, Bost had just as good a seat as anybody else at Humphrey Coliseum after he fouled out for the first time this season with 15 points and seven assists.
“We learned tonight that when he goes out, we don’t need to panic so it was good we came out with the victory,” MSU junior forward Arnett Moultrie said.
The 22nd-ranked Bulldogs were forced to hang on again at Humphrey Coliseum with a 91-88 victory over Auburn University thanks to making 60.4 percent of their shots. MSU’s starters connected on 23-of-38 from the field and drained 8-for-12 from beyond the three-point arc. The Bulldogs are now 11-4 in games decided by 10 points or less.
“We get a big lead and I guess we let it slip sometimes,” Bost said.
“I’m getting tired of them.”
The problem was consistent defensive lapses never allowed MSU (18-5, 5-3 in SEC play) to breathe easy throughout the contest.
Seemingly every single time MSU would get a dunk or three-pointer to arise the 7,853 in attendance, Auburn would beat the Bulldogs down the floor for two of its 14 fast break points or get a chance to shot two of its 36 free throws throughout the afternoon.
Conversely MSU, who came into the game shooting 73.2 percent from the charity stripe in conference play, missed 14-of-33 in the final 20 minutes to allow Auburn to hang around late.
“We didn’t separate it the way we needed to in the second half because of free throw shooting,” MSU coach Rick Stansbury said. “We had a bunch of opportunities to stretch that thing out to 13 or 14 points if we just make some free throws.”
Moultrie was one of five Bulldogs players to have double figures in scoring by leading his team with 21 points including a post touch and power lay-in with 1:42 left in the contest while being fouled to put MSU up 83-76.
“I felt like we just needed a bucket to seal the game and get us back going at that point,” Moultrie said.
Coming into the Saturday afternoon contest, MSU had all three home conference victories by no more than a five-point margin. Following a three-point shot that beat the halftime buzzer, the 11-point home favorite were walking to the locker room after 20 minutes of play down 44-43.
After proclaiming that the week off would be nothing but a benefit to his tired basketball team, Stansbury shifted his thoughts Saturday after noticing a lackluster effort on the defensive end saying MSU was a “step slow” against an Auburn team that averaged just 55 points per game in league play.
“That’s the pluses and minuses with (the break),” Stansbury said. “When you change the rhythm some, it is good we had that rest. The opposite side of that is that it changes your routine and we didn’t defend everyday last week when we were off.”
In what might have been the start of the most important second half of the 2011-12 season, Bost took over to hit three straight three-point shots with the final pair with Auburn point guard Varez Ward’s hand in his face.
“The shots that Bost made to start that second half were not only big shots but they were tough shots too trust me,” Auburn coach Tony Barbee said. “When you’re a good player, you make tough shots to get your momentum going. That held us off.”
Saturday marked the first time any team has shot over 55 percent from the field against Auburn (13-10, 3-6) this season. MSU got a double-figure effort out of each starter except Brian Bryant but the senior guard was more than productive being just shy of a triple-double with seven points, seven rebounds and a career-high nine assists in 32 minutes.
Auburn senior forward Kenny Gabriel became an offensive mismatch for MSU by being able to secure his fourth double-double effort of the season with 22 points and 11 rebounds.
The Tigers got a game-high 24 points off the bench from Varez Ward as the sophomore transfer from the University of Texas was able to consistently slice through MSU’s defense for layups or open looks for teammates.
“It’s what we’ve been looking for out of him all year long so better late then never” Barbee said.
MSU sophomore guard Jalen Steele kept the Bulldogs offensive pace at a high level with 13 points in 25 minutes off the bench. Steele has had at least nine points in each of the last four contests.
“I’ve just been real comfortable lately,” Steele said. “Stansbury keeps telling me to not worry about anything or think about anything. I just need to go out there with a free mind.”
MSU will next be on the floor when they host Ole Miss at 6 p.m., in the front half of a Thursday-Saturday turnaround with Georgia at 12:30 p.m. Saturday on the SEC Network.
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