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MSU rebounds with win over Lions |
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Friday, 20 November 2009 |
 Mississippi State center Jarvis Varnado, right, blocks a shot by Southeast Louisiana center Patrick Sullivan during the Bulldogs’ 82-67 win Thursday night. By MATTHEW STEVENS
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Mississippi State head coach Rick Stansbury was concerned.
He was worried about how his team would react to an 88-74 upset loss to Rider in the home opener one week ago.
He wasn’t sure how much time he could get out of injured players Dee Bost (ankle, groin), Riley Benock (foot) and Elgin Bailey (ankle).
Maybe he should be scared before every game.
Bost made the Bulldogs’ first shot, a 3-pointer from the top of the key, giving the Bulldogs (1-1) a lead they would never relinquish.
Benock checked in after the first media timeout and Bailey subbed into the game to a standing ovation with a little over three minutes in the first half.
Most importantly Mississippi State won its first game of the 2009-10 season by beating Southeastern Louisiana 82-67.
“Good to get one in the right side of the win column, that’s number one,” Mississippi State head coach Rick Stansbury said.
The Bulldogs avoided losing their first two games of the season since the 1967-68 campaign in front of a sparse Humphrey Coliseum crowd of 4,544.
Bost finished with 10 points in 32 minutes, Benock got two points in 15 minutes and the final three minutes of the first half was the only time MSU saw Bailey on the floor.
“We knew Dee would be able to go but for how long, we didn’t know. When you get in the game and the emotion gets going, it doesn’t take but one quick move that can hurt something,” Stansbury said. “I thought Riley’s minutes helped Stew (Barry Stewart) and Dee tremendously.”
All five MSU starters recorded double-figure scoring efforts, providing 70 of the Bulldogs 82 points.
“We got more from our bench than we did the last game,” Stansbury said. “We were one less short than we were the other night and I thought our bench was more productive tonight.”
Eight minutes into the contest, MSU ran out to a 23-9 lead thanks to a trio of 3-point shots by junior guard Ravern Johnson. He ended with 17 points while shooting 7-of-13 from the field.
Varnado led all scorers with 20 points on the night and the senior Wooden Award nominee also added nine rebounds and eight blocks.
Varnado is now three blocks away for Shaquille O’Neal’s Southeastern Conference record.
“It’s going to be a good honor to be in the names with Shaq,” Varnado said.
Mississippi State went with last year’s traditional four-guard starting lineup with junior Phil Turner put in place of suspended junior forward Kodi Augustus.
Augustus, who was dressed in uniform Thursday night, was serving half of his two-game suspension following his comments after the season-opening 88-74 loss to Rider last Friday.
Turner ended the night with a double-double that included 10 points and 14 rebounds in 34 minutes.
“He was totally the difference in the game from the standpoint that we won that war from the (power forward) spot,” Stansbury said.
Turner relished the opportunity of returning to the starting lineup by tying his career high on the glass and will be a starter for at least for one more game before going back to his sixth-man role.
“It’s not something that I just prefer but since that’s what I’ve chosen to do then — like coach says I embrace it — and then whatever helps the team win that’s what I do,” Turner said.
Southeastern Louisiana, which finished 13-17 last year out of the Southland Conference, kept the deficit within striking distance all evening and cut the lead to lead to 70-60 with just under five minutes left to go in the game.
“I was pleased despite the deficit, we hung in there and made some runs,” Southeastern Louisiana head coach Jim Yarbrough said. “You can’t make mistakes like we did and expect to make a decent comeback.”
Three starters (Varnado, Bost and Turner) checked back into the game to keep the lead to nine and then the Bulldogs scored the next seven points over the next 2:27 to put the victory away.
Patrick Sullivan led the Lions (2-1) with 20 points but the senior from Orlando, Fla., had to take 21 shots to get there and was held to only four points throughout the first 17 minutes of play.
“Coach said he’s a real good shooter and he’s a good driver so I just had to play position defense,” Varnado said.
When Varnado was subbed out the game for Bailey in the first half, Sullivan scored six points in the final three minutes before halftime.
Mississippi State will try to make it two in a row when it returns to Humphrey Coliseum to host Bethune Cookman at 7 p.m. Saturday.
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 21 November 2009 )
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