STARKVILLE — The first month of the 2011-12 season included a pair of marquee victories for the Mississippi State men’s basketball team.
Wins against nationally ranked Texas A&M and Arizona on consecutive nights in the 2K Sports Classic in New York City catapulted MSU into The Associated Press top 25.
On Saturday night, though, the absence of a key contributor didn’t prevent MSU from adding what could be an even more impressive non-conference win to its NCAA tournament résumé.
Arnett Moultrie had 21 points and 13 rebounds for his fourth double-double of the season, and Dee Bost had seven points and season-highs in assists (seven) and steals (five) to lead No. 21 MSU to a 75-62 against West Virginia in the Big East/SEC Challenge at Humphrey Coliseum.
Jalen Steele added 10 points as the only other player in double figures for MSU (8-1), which won its seventh straight game and played without senior guard Brian Bryant.
MSU coach Rick Stansbury said after the game that Bryant was suspended for breaking an athletic department rule and also would miss the next two games.
Limited to a seven-player rotation for all but the final minute, MSU used a solid all-around effort that included a 49-percent shooting effort from the field (25 of 51) and an 83.3-percent performance from the free-throw line (20 of 24) to help it make up for the fact the Mountaineers won the battle of second-chance points (20-9) thanks to a 36-31 rebounding edge. West Virginia had 14 offensive rebounds and is the first team to outrebound MSU this season.
Still, Stansbury was more than pleased with the contributions of Wendell Lewis (six points in 24 minutes), DeVille Smith (six points in 24 minutes) and Renardo Sidney, who had eight points in only 22 minutes due to foul problems. He credited West Virginia for defending hard and attacking the glass, which he said helped keep it in the game. He was pleased to see his players respond in the second half.
“I thought our kids dug in when that game got on the line,” Stansbury said. “They got three offensive putbacks in the second half. When you’re getting pressured, you have to do two things: You have to get the ball into the paint on a pass or a dribble. We did that. We got into the bonus and we got into the double bonus, and when you do that you have to go to the free-throw line and knock them down.”
MSU did that, hitting 15 of 16 in the final 20 minutes, including their last 12. Moultrie hit the first two to give MSU the lead for good, 54-52, with 7 minutes, 38 seconds remaining. Moultrie followed that up with a score inside and Smith added two more free throws before Moultrie had to leave the game with a cramp in his left leg.
“We are just trying to win ballgames,” Moultrie said. “I knew they were going to come out aggressive. I just wanted to match that aggression.”
Sidney returned with four fouls and Lewis continued to give MSU solid minutes to help the team pull away. Bost had a steal and a dunk to kick the lead to 60-54. One of the best team plays of the night came on the next basket. a Bost bounce pass to a cutting Sidney, who fed Lewis on the other block for a layup that made it 62-54 with 4:04 to play.
“We had great individual stats from a lot of people,” Stansbury said. “Arnett had unbelievable stats. Dee Bost had seven assists and one turnover in 38 minutes. Rodney Hood played 38 minutes without a turnover.”
MSU salted the game away by sharing the basketball against West Virginia’s 1-3-1 zone. Fittingly, Moultrie had an offensive rebound putback to extend the lead to 62-57 and Steele hit a 3-pointer from the corner following a pass from Bost on a well-executed half-court set.
“I feel like last year we relied on the three a lot, but this year we have more guys that can do different things,” Bost said. “We also have a lot of guys that can get to the rim and we can feed it to the post. We have more weapons so we don’t have to rely on our 3-point game. It takes pressure off of me having more guys that can dribble.”
Bost and Sidney shared duties at the free-throw line in the final 1:41, as they each went 4 of 4 to help MSU win on an evening in which 42 fouls were called, the most of any game the Bulldogs have played this season.
West Virginia’s Kevin Jones (tied for team-high honors with 14 points) was limited to a season-low 25 minutes due to foul problems. He was 6 of 17 from the field, including 0-for-6 from 3-point range. He also had nine rebounds. Jones entered the game second in the Big East in scoring at 21.2 points per game.
“We did a bad job of moving, rebounding, and shooting the basketball,” West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said. “Kevin Jones was in foul trouble. When he gets in trouble we’re not near as good.
“I’m worried about my team. Mississippi State is a good team. My team sucks right now. State is a good and talented team. They have very strong, athletic players, including Arnett Moultrie and Dee Bost.”
While impressed with the victory and the atmosphere at Humphrey Coliseum, Stansbury cautioned that beating West Virginia counts only as one win. Still, he knows that one win will help his team in March if it doesn’t win the Southeastern Conference tournament and earn the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
“There are always games in your schedule that you look at and they get magnified a little bit,” Stansbury said. “You look in the crowd tonight, and the crowd knew that was a big game. Everybody knew that was a big game, and you don’t have to say a lot about it. As a coach you want to play them all the same and be at that level. … At this part of our season and being a man down — and an important man down — it was huge to get it without him. That was new for us. … It is one win, but it is a big win for us.”
NOTE: MSU invites all high school and middle school boys and girls basketball teams in the Magnolia State to attend games against Troy, Florida Atlantic, and Utah State at Humphrey Coliseum free of charge. Those fans also can attend MSU’s game against Northwestern State on Dec. 22 in Jackson for fee.
The games against Troy (Dec. 10) and Florida Atlantic (Dec. 13) will be televised on Fox Sports Net and CSS, respectively, while the Utah State game will tip at 1 p.m. Dec. 31.
Coaches, players and bus drivers are all invited and must enter the pass gate as a group accompanied by a coach. If you are interested in attending any or all of these games, the MSU staff requests you fax your roster and the names of the coaches and bus driver to 662-325-3648 no later than 10 a.m. the morning of the desired game. Please be sure to include the cell phone number of the head coach on the fax.
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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