STARKVILLE – Round two went to Mississippi State senior Dee Bost.
In highly publicized feud between University of Mississippi forward Terrance Henry and the Bulldogs point guard, MSU’s 6-foot-3 scorer took all the trash talk from the first game and transformed it into his best night of the 2011-12 season.
Less than a month after hearing the chants of ‘overrated’ by the Ole Miss student section in MSU’s loss in Oxford, Bost led the 20th-ranked Bulldogs to a 70-60 victory Thursday night in front of an energized 10,364 in attendance at Humphrey Coliseum.
“We heard everything…basically everything you can hear,” Bost said. “I was real motivated. A must win game.”
The senior point guard had the same point total (15) as the 75-68 loss to the Rebels on Jan. 18 but his career-high 13 assists were the key as he was able to go right by Henry on his way to the lane that led to baskets by the Bulldogs dominating frontcourt of Arnett Moultrie and Renardo Sidney.
Thursday night marked the first double-double of the season for the normally shoot-first point guard but in his career MSU is 4-1 when Bost accomplishes the feat.
“Our kids were aware of some things that was said but let’s just stay focused and let our talking be between the lines,” Stansbury said of his pre-game message to the team. “I thought Dee did a great job of that tonight. We did a couple things a little different tonight to help him at times.”
Ole Miss (14-9, 4-5 in Southeastern Conference play) attempted to go with the bigger and longer Henry as Bost’s defender Thursday night similarly to the game plan in their victory in Oxford when Bost was 4-of-15 from the floor and without a two-point basket through 39 minutes of play. MSU (19-5, 6-3) adjusted to that style perfectly with Bost taking the basketball straight to the lane off pick-and-roll action from the Bulldogs frontcourt players leaving Henry’s size advantage nullified most of the night in Starkville.
“(Bost’s) floor game was exceptional and I’ve always said that I really believe he’s the best point guard in our league and he played that way tonight,” Ole Miss coach Andy Kennedy said.
The two-man game of Bost and Moultrie was working early and often for MSU as the 6-foot-10 transfer from the University of Texas at El Paso had a game-high 18 points and team-high nine rebounds in 37 minutes.
“I knew about Dee during my freshman year (at UTEP) and I liked the way he played and passed the ball so it played a big part in me coming to play with him at Mississippi State,” Moultrie said.
Moultrie, who Kennedy called after the game ‘a serious candidate for SEC Player of the Year’ had at least three highlight-worthy alley-oop dunks to get the home crowd on their feet with two coming right before halftime. One of the dunks before the first 20 minutes of play were through was a pass from Bost to Moultrie were MSU’s forward nearly went above the top of the backboard to retrieve and throw down to a thunderous ovation as both team left the floor with the Bulldogs up 40-27.
“They should’ve started boxing me out and I thought that’s what they were going to do but I just kept sneaking behind them and pointing my finger up for the lob,” Moultrie said.
Moultrie, who was 9-of-14 from the floor, heard chants of ‘UTEP reject’ from the crowd at Tad Smith Coliseum and said that motivated him to return the favor in a game where he ‘preferred the rivalry atmosphere.’
Rodney Hood culminated an early 16-4 run for MSU with three straight jump shots over the Rebels 2-3 zone defense. It was an early Bulldogs run included Kennedy taking a 30-second timeout down 6-0 to berate his interior defense after Sidney and Moultrie made the first three baskets of the game right next to the rim.
MSU’s frontcourt dominance extended the glass as they outrebounded the SEC’s best team in that statistical category 38-33 and got six of the first seven offensive rebounds of the evening.
“They knocked us to the mat right from the jump,” Kennedy said.
“They were quicker to the ball. When you see us and you see them, they’re physically bigger. So we have to be quicker to the ball and when the bigger team is quicker to the ball, the outcome isn’t going to be what you want.”
The 10-point margin of victory was the most in a conference home game this season as MSU’s largest lead grew to 18 with 18:40 left in the contest.
Stansbury attempted to downplay the significance of avoiding the first regular season against the Rebels since his first season roaming the sidelines in 1998 but mentioning the less than 48 hours his team has to prepare for a Saturday afternoon tip vs. Georgia (12:30, WCBI).
Stansbury is 21-8 against Ole Miss and 13-1 in Humphrey Coliseum against the in-state rival.
“It doesn’t matter how many you’ve won in the past,” Stansbury said.
“The only one that matters the most is the next one. For some people, they count more than one win but it’s one win.”
Since 2009-10 season, MSU is one of two teams, along with Florida, who have a winning record with less time to prepare than its opponent as the Bulldogs have posted an impressive 7-1 record in that situation.
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