STARKVILLE — It was a tale of two halves.
Mississippi State men’s basketball coach Rick Ray loved the first half of his team’s game against Mississippi Valley State on Monday night. Ray watched his Bulldogs shoot 69 percent from the field and score 58 points — the most in his three-year tenure at the school. But Ray didn’t like the second half in which MSU committed 19 of a season-high 26 turnovers.
Still, the halves added up to an 89-68 victory, MSU’s second-consecutive win to open the 2014-15 campaign.
“It was a good win for our team,” Ray said, “but I am disappointed with the way we competed in the second half. We turned the ball over way too much, got sloppy. We gave up way too many points in both halves, but getting outscored 34-31 in the second half. It’s not what I want to see from this basketball team.”
Despite Ray’s reservations, the Bulldogs coasted to victory thanks to a dominant effort in the first 20 minutes, when they made 20 of 29 shots from the field to take a 58-34 halftime lead. The effort was MSU’s best in a first half since a 57-point opening half last season against Auburn. The Bulldogs used a hot start by Fred Thomas, who connected on two 3-pointers in the opening two minutes and scored 14 first-half points, to put the game away early. Thomas, a junior guard from Jackson, also was 6 of 8 from the free-throw line and had 17 points.
“I think that hot start comes from shooting before the game,” Thomas said. “I got here early today, real early, and I shot about 150 jump shots to get started. I think that really helped.”
Thomas’ fast start propelled MSU to a 23-8 lead at the first media timeout four minutes into the game. But for everything the Bulldogs did right in the first half — shooting well, defending at a high level, protecting the ball — there were equal struggles in the second half.
After the break, MSU (2-0) failed to scored in a four-minute stretch, and a lead that reached as many as 31 points dwindled to 18 with nine minutes to go.
“My guys played with heart,” said MVSU coach Andre Payne, now 0-2 in his first season. “I thought in the first half we played scared of them, like we didn’t believe we could play with them. I thought we turned that around.”
MSU capitalized on its height advantage against MVSU, which started one player taller than 6-foot-5. That allowed the MSU senior Roquez Johnson and junior Gavin Ware to feast inside. Johnson led all scorers with 20 points, while Ware added 19 and a team-high eight rebounds.
“We knew going in that they were going to be smaller than us,” Ware said. “They were quick, but we kept telling our guards to get the ball in there to us because we had the advantage.”
Johnson’s 20 points tied a career-high. He also scored six points on dunks, emblematic of a night when MSU had several highlight-reel finishes, including a no-look alley-oop pass from point guard Trivante Bloodman to freshman Demetrius Houston that ended in a thunderous dunk midway through the first half.
“They play above the rim,” Payne said. “They are so long, so athletic, more than they were last year. When you are that tall, you are going to play above the rim.”
Asked about his team’s increased athleticism, Johnson agreed.
“We are more athletic than we were a year ago,” Johnson said. “With guys like Demetrius and Travis (Daniels), we can play more above the rim. That’s where we want to be.”
All five MSU starters scored double digits on Monday night, as Bloodman added 11 and Daniels 10. Bloodman, still manning the point guard spot with junior Craig Sword and sophomore I.J. Ready out with injuries, led MSU with seven assists.
Guard Jordan Washington (18 points) led MVSU. Guard Tyler Corley added 17.
Despite the victory, Ray was hesitant to praise his team’s overall effort in the postgame press conference.
“For us to grow, we can’t play against Mississippi Valley State,” Ray said. “We have to play against ourselves, what our expectations are. With 26 turnovers, I can’t say we got better as a team today.”
MSU will play host to Utah State at noon Saturday.
Follow Dispatch sports writer Brandon Walker on Twitter @BWonStateBeat
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