STARKVILLE — The final seconds ticked down Tuesday.
Giddy with anticipation, Mississippi State point guard Iverson Molinar didn’t even bother waiting for the final horn to sound before shooting his backcourt mate, D.J. Stewart, an ear-to-ear grin.
The sophomores, the two catalysts of a 14-point second-half comeback Tuesday at Humphrey Coliseum, leapt off the ground for a celebratory bump as Deivion Smith dribbled out the final Bulldog possession.
“I knew we needed a person to step up and fight back to get the (win),” said Stewart, who finished with a game-high 24 points on a 10 of 14 shooting effort. “I just had to lock in and put the team on my shoulder.”
Saturday night, the Bulldogs were deflated, frustrated, and searching for answers after blowing their best chance at beating Kentucky in 15 years. But on Tuesday, the backcourt duo that MSU coach Ben Howland called the one of the best in the Southeastern Conference bolstered MSU (7-4, 2-1 SEC) to a NCAA tournament-worthy victory, taking down No. 13 Missouri 78-63.
“This was a total shot in the arm for us,” Howland said.
If the victory was a shot in the arm for MSU, it was, well … the opposite for Missouri (7-2, 1-2).
“What happened,” Missouri coach Cuonzo Martin asked after watching his team implode defensively after halftime. “… They set a different tone in the second half, and we paid for it.”
It was MSU’s fourth straight victory against the Tigers. The Bulldogs have also won nine of the last 10 games in the series.
A comeback seemed impossible after the first half, where the Bulldogs looked out of gas and confused en route to digging themselves a 39-27 hole. Missouri took the Bulldogs to the woodshed, scoring 15 points off turnovers and converting uncontested looks in the post with ease. Perhaps the perfect summary of MSU’s start was Tolu Smith giving the Tigers a free two points in what could be described as a frustration foul with 1 second left in the half on the opposite end of the court.
Missouri forward Jeremiah Tilmon made his presence felt in the first half, converting 4 of 5 shots for eight points, leaving MSU center Abdul Ado befuddled about what was happening defensively.
“We made a couple of mistakes in the first half,” Ado said. “We came back in the locker room, and we all talked to each other. We had a conversation about who was supposed to help, where is everybody supposed to be at. We have to communicate, and there was no communication in the first half.”
In the second, Stewart and Molinar, who finished with 20 points despite starting 0-for-5 from the floor, couldn’t miss. Literally, in the case of Stewart. He didn’t miss a shot the entire second half.
“It’s almost as if you’d have to pour water on them to cool them off,” MSU center Abdul Ado said.
Trailing by as many as 14 in the second half, Stewart and Molinar spearheaded a 17-0 run by themselves and lifted MSU to its first lead since the game’s opening minutes.
“I wish I could take credit for it, but I thought we had great leadership tonight,” Howland said. “All of our guys stepped up and played with great passion and fire.”
Tilmon, who had a team-high 16 points for Missouri, had an all-too common Achilles Heel of his collegiate career haunt him after picking up his fourth foul with 8:17 remaining. MSU took advantage of his absence, completing the comeback by outscoring the Tigers 51-24 after halftime and shooting 67.9 percent in the second half.
“(Tilmon) is really hard to guard,” Howland said. “He’s having his best year, he’s really done a good job of staying out of foul trouble, this really was one of the few he was in it this year. We talked about trying to go at him and put him in that position because he’s so good offensively.”
In a dramatic turn of events, free throws turned out to be a key reason MSU completed the comeback, instead of leaving fans wishing for more. Poor foul-line shooting has cost MSU probably at least two games this season, but Tuesday, it converted 19 of 21 shots from the charity stripe.
“In our shootaround today, we had our best day for free throw shooting,” Howland said. “We made 81 out of 100. It directly correlates what you do in practice.”
Mississippi State is back in action against Vanderbilt at noon Saturday in Nashville.
DAWG NOTES: Javian Davis, one of MSU’s top frontcourt bench options, did not play for undisclosed reasons that aren’t disciplinary or academic, but Howland said he will miss the next 10 days.
Hodge is the former sports editor for The Dispatch.
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