STARKVILLE — Reggie Perry rumbled into the open court.
Crossing midcourt with the Florida International defense on his back, Perry flicked a slick, right-handed bounce pass to redshirt freshman guard D.J. Stewart for an easy transition layup midway through the opening half of MSU’s 77-69 win over Florida International on Tuesday at Humphrey Coliseum.
“I feel like that’s what I’m best at,” Perry said of getting out in transition. “I feel like it’s just about making the right reads and it’s one of my best attributes, so I’m really comfortable with it and coach (Ben) Howland has a lot of faith in me.”
Entering the season, the 6-foot-11, 250-pound center was expected to be a dominating post presence — so much so he was named to the preseason first team All-SEC team. But Tuesday it was Perry’s complementary play and an impressive offensive display from freshman Iverson Molinar that aided the Bulldogs in their season-opening victory.
As senior guard Tyson Carter led all scorers with 23 points, Molinar added a gritty 14 points on 5 of 10 shooting, while Perry notched another 13 points.
Despite finishing the night in double figures and converting 55 percent of his shots, Perry labored through a physical Panther defense that crashed the interior upon seemingly every touch from the massive center.
Finally finding a groover, Perry notched 10 of his 13 points in the game’s final 10:30 and added a much-needed seven rebounds and three assists — perhaps none flashier than his behind the back flip save to Abdul Ado for a second-chance dunk.
“It just felt like I wasn’t playing hard enough in the first half — I feel like I was coasting a little bit,” Perry conceded postgame. “During halftime, I just wanted to lock back in and play a little bit harder.”
He also made his presence felt defensively. With FIU hanging around in the final four minutes of the game, Panthers guard Antonio Day Jr. went up for an off-balance, right-handed layup.
Leaping in front of the deadened shot, Perry swatted the ball into the media seating at the foot of the baseline — offering a few choice words toward Day as he walked back toward the free throw line.
“Mississippi State has a whole bunch of grown men, and he may be the grown-est of them all,” FIU coach Jeremy Ballard said of Perry. “The hype is real with him, but our guys were motivated. We felt like if we did our work early and didn’t allow him to catch the ball in the spots that he wanted to catch it then we could have a chance. But credit to him, he didn’t get frustrated. He kept fighting, and he was able to make some plays for them.”
As Perry progressively stuffed the stat sheet, Molinar was a second steadying presence over the game’s final 20 minutes. Scoring 10 of his 14 points in the second half, the Panama City, Panama native flashed a propensity for hard drives toward the bucket — earning five trips to the free-throw line.
Though Molinar was a meager 4 of 8 from the free-throw line, Howland expects the freshman’s ability to reach the rim to afford him more minutes at point guard alongside Carter as MSU deals with the absence of Nick Weatherspoon — who is suspended the first 10 games of the season for his role in the academic misconduct scandal for which the NCAA released its findings on Aug. 23.
“I think Iverson was getting more and more comfortable,” Howland said. “He’s better at beating people off the dribble than Tyson. We had the luxury of last year where Lamar (Peters) would get the ball in the press and just dribble through it, and you didn’t need a press offense, he was just gone…When we have Nick back we’ll have that, and I think Iverson has that gear as well.”
While Tuesday’s win over a Panthers squad that took home 20 victories last season is just the first step in a journey the Bulldogs hope will carry them to March Madness for the second straight season, the final 20 minutes offered a glimpse at what Molinar can be alongside a productive Perry going forward.
“There’s no easy breaks for us here,” Howland said postgame. “We’re going to have to bounce back here and really get ready to go.”
Ben Portnoy reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @bportnoy15.
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