STARKVILLE — Ben Howland has seen the Mississippi State men’s basketball team come close numerous times this season.
The Bulldogs have found ways to be competitive down the stretch in nearly all of their games in the Southeastern Conference, but they have managed only a home victory against Ole Miss.
On Tuesday night, MSU squandered a seven-point lead with a little more than five minutes remaining and went on to lose to Alabama 82-80 in overtime at Humphrey Coliseum.
“We’ve got to be better when we have a lead,” Howland said. “We’ve got to be able to handle it better and execute down the stretch.”
After entering a five-minute overtime period tied at 67, the Bulldogs (9-12, 2-7 SEC) scored the first four points on two Quinndary Weatherspoon free throws and a layup by Malik Newman — his only field goal — after a steal. But Alabama (12-9, 3-6) used a 3-pointer by Justin Coleman (15 points) in the right corner to take a 79-76 lead with 1 minute, 10 seconds remaining. On the next possession, Fred Thomas passed up a 3-pointer and made a layup to cut the lead to one, but Howland said he wished Thomas would have taken the 3-pointer. Coleman made a pair of free throws on the next possession to make it 81-78 and MSU again settled for a two-point shot, as Travis Daniels (11 points) rebounded an I.J. Ready missed layup to cut the lead to one.
“We just needed a bucket,” Thomas said. “We really didn’t need the (3-pointer) because it was obviously a lot of time left, so we just took the two.”
Riley Norris (16 points) made one free throw on the next possession with a little more than one second remaining. The Bulldogs didn’t get a shot off in after Norris missed the second free throw.
MSU led 64-57 with 5:03 remaining, but Alabama used a 10-3 run to put it in position to force overtime. With 7.8 seconds left, Craig Sword (10 points) took a charge from Retin Obasohan (team-high 25 points) to give the Bulldogs the ball back with 10 seconds left. Sword was immediately fouled by Arthur Edwards (12 points). It was the seventh foul by the Crimson Tide, meaning Sword had a 1-and-1 opportunity. Alabama coach Avery Johnson said there was a miscommunication between his staff and the players, but it didn’t matter as Sword missed the front end. Ready rebounded the miss but instead of taking the shot he dribbled the ball and had it slip out of his hands. He couldn’t recover to get a shot off before time expired. Howland said Ready should have just taken the shot instead of dribbling it.
“We make one of those, at least I feel good about our chances to close the game out,” Howland said. “We’ve got to make our foul shots. I feel bad for Chicken (Sword) because I know he feels worse than anybody. Normally he’s going to make that.”
The Bulldogs were 11 of 16 from the free-throw line. MSU was 5 of 6 from the free-throw line in overtime after going 1 of 3 in the second half.
Alabama,which blew a nine-point lead in the second half, welcomed the overtime. The Bulldogs went on a 14-0 run midway through the second half to take a 56-51 lead. The biggest shot was a 3-pointer by Thomas that gave MSU its first lead at 53-51, but the Crimson Tide settled down and rallied prior to overtime.
“The biggest thing was just staying positive,” Obasohan said. “Our mentality is always the next play, so whatever happened in the first half or at the end of the second half, we just want to focus on the next play and controlling what we can control.”
Senior center Gavin Ware came off the bench to score a career-high 28 points. After suffering a concussion and not making the trip to Columbia, Missouri, for MSU’s victory against Missouri on Saturday, Ware was cleared just before the game. He scored 14 points in the first half and 11 in the second half, but only three in overtime.
Although late game struggles in close games have been an issue for the Bulldogs, they felt like they had what it took to finish this one off.
“I feel like this is a game we should have won,” Thomas said. “It plays out in a lot of different ways. We missed free throws, they outrebounded us, and that’s how they were able to come up with the win.”
Follow Dispatch sports writer Ben Wait on Twitter @bcwait
Ben Wait reports on Mississippi State University sports for The Dispatch.
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