STARKVILLE — While the Mississippi State men’s basketball team continues to languish at the bottom of the Southeastern Conference 3-point statistics, Quinndary Weatherspoon hit the one that mattered Sunday afternoon.
Weatherspoon’s off-balanced 3-pointer from the left side of the lane with 0.7 seconds remaining lifted MSU past Jacksonville State 59-56 at Humphrey Coliseum.
“You just don’t see that many last-second shots in college basketball,” MSU coach Ben Howland said. “I only remember two in my whole time at UCLA. Q has done that twice now, and that’s incredible. We sure are playing some close games.”
MSU improved to 5-0 with its third victory by nine points or less. Part of the recent struggles have been due to the absence of sophomore point guard Lamar Peters, who missed a second-straight game due to a violation of team rules.
MSU also played virtually without sophomore center E.J. Datcher, who logged three minutes before a bone bruise proved too much to overcome.
“We are learning to win close games,” Quinndary Weatherspoon said. “We played a bunch of them last year but didn’t win very many of them. It’s been a next man up-type situation. I think it has brought us together.”
The Bulldogs are shooting 26.2 percent from 3-point range. That hasn’t stopped the squad from shooting an average of 21 3-pointers per game.
On Sunday, MSU was 4-for-18 from beyond the arc. No player made more than one. Tyson Carter, who scored 25 points Wednesday in a victory against Stephen F. Austin, was a 1-for-7 from 3-point range.
“You look at what Tyson Carter and Eli Wright did on the defensive end to help us win the game,” Howland said. “The two were a combined 1 of 12 from 3-point range, but they were a big reason on the defensive end why we won the game. You can’t lose sight of that.”
MSU trailed 29-25 at halftime and saw the deficit stretch to eight with a little more than 13 minutes left in the second half.
From there, the Bulldogs became better defensively and saw the big men take over. Junior forward Aric Holman had 11 points and six rebounds. Freshman forward Abdul Ado had nine points and eight rebounds.
“The confidence level is really growing on this team,” Holman said. “It’s small steps, but we are making progress. Everybody can take a little pride in the defensive team we have become. Those were some hard possessions out there late in the game.”
The Bulldogs took their first second-half lead at 50-49 on a putback by Nick Weatherspoon with 6 minutes, 35 seconds remaining. Holman scored on the next possession to cap a 6-0 run.
Still, the Bulldogs needed a couple of more shots. Quinndary Weatherspoon put the Bulldogs up 56-54 with 2:29 left.
On the final possession, the Bulldogs held for the final 19 seconds before Quinndary Weatherspoon was triple teamed on the side of the lane but rewarded for his last-second jumper.
“It feels good to make that kind of shot,” Quinndary Weatherspoon said. “It’s always exciting to win a game. We have confidence in the (3-point shooting). We are getting good shots. Eventually, more of them will fall.”
Quinndary Weatherspoon led the Bulldogs with 13 points, while Nick Weatherspoon added 12.
Norbertas Giga had 15 points and 10 rebounds for Jacksonville State (4-2).
MSU will play host to North Dakota State at 6 p.m. Thursday.
Follow Dispatch sports writer Scott Walters on Twitter @dispatchscott
Scott was sports editor for The Dispatch.
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