Mississippi State’s Fred Thomas celebrates after scoring against South Carolina during the first half of Wednesday’s game. (AP)
Mississippi State (10-21) advanced to a second-round game today against No. 5 seed Tennessee (19-11). The Bulldogs have won three of their last four games, though they had lost 13 straight before that.
Colin Borchert and Roquez Johnson scored 11 points apiece and Gavin Ware added 10 for Mississippi State.
Bruce Ellington scored 13 points and Laimonas Chatkevicius matched a career high with 11 points for South Carolina, which has lost five of its last six.
South Carolina’s Brenton Williams, who had scored a career-high 38 points in a 79-72 victory over Mississippi State on March 6, shot 2 of 13 and had just six points Wednesday.
After the game went back and forth for the first nine minutes, Mississippi State took control by going on a 13-0 run to break a 13-13 tie. Thomas, one of three freshmen in the Bulldogs’ starting lineup, scored eight points during that spurt by hitting a pair of 3-pointers and two free throws.
Damien Leonard ended a six-minute scoring drought for South Carolina by hitting a jumper and followed that with a 3-pointer that cut Mississippi State’s lead to 26-18, but the Bulldogs quickly recovered. Mississippi State led 32-21 at halftime and stayed in front by at least four points the rest of the night.
Mississippi State got unexpected production from 3-point range. The Bulldogs were last in the SEC in 3-pointers per game (4.7) and 3-point percentage (.281) during the regular season, but they went 7 of 15 from beyond the arc Wednesday while South Carolina was 6 of 31.
Thomas led the way by going 4 of 8 from 3-point range.
South Carolina cut Mississippi State’s lead to 60-56 on a Williams 3-pointer with 4:09 remaining, but Mississippi State answered with six straight points. Thomas sank a 3-pointer and made two free throws during that game-clinching spurt.
Wednesday’s victory represented a step forward for a Mississippi State program that has battled all kinds of injuries in coach Rick Ray’s debut season.
Junior guard Jalen Steele and freshman guards Andre Applewhite and Jacoby Davis tore anterior cruciate ligaments. Senior forward Wendell Lewis fractured a right patella tendon. Steele ranked second on the team with 10.1 points per game. Lewis averaged 8.1 points in just eight games before getting hurt.
Texas A&M 71, Auburn 62
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Elston Turner scored 22 points even with his broken left pinkie wrapped up in a splint, and the Texas A&M Aggies beat Auburn 71-62 Wednesday night in their first Southeastern Conference tournament game.
Texas A&M (18-14) came to the tournament having lost four of five. But the 11th-seeded Aggies drew the SEC’s last-place team in Auburn, and now they will play sixth-seeded Missouri on Thursday night in a matchup of the former Big 12 teams.
Alex Caruso added 14 points, and Kourtney Roberson and Fabyon Harris had 11 apiece for Texas A&M. The Auburn Tigers (9-23) wrap up the season losing their last 10 games and now have lost 11 straight in Nashville.
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