State rolls past UT Vols
By By Tony Krausz / assistant sports editor
Jan. 29, 2004
STARKVILLE Mississippi State University may not have taken advantage of every Tennessee mistake Wednesday night, but it sure seemed like it.
The No. 11 Bulldogs scored 35 points off 21 Volunteer turnovers in an 82-60 win at Humphrey Coliseum. It was MSU's fourth straight conference win.
"Our team just keeps finding a way to come out and take care of business," said MSU coach Rick Stansbury. "We forced 21 turnovers. That is a big stat for us always. It shows how much pressure we apply and how much quickness we have."
MSU (17-1, 6-1 Southeastern Conference) held Tennessee(10-6, 2-4 SEC) to 36 percent shooting in the contest. The Bulldogs hit an adequate 46.8 percent of their shots.
Bulldogs forward Lawrence Roberts paced the offense with 20 points, and guard Timmy Bowers scored 18 and dished out four assists.
Winsome Frazier scored 12 points and snagged three steals for MSU, and Shane Power tallied 10 in the win.
MSU pulled away from Tennessee, which trailed 39-29 at the break, with a 17-6 run in the opening eight minutes of the second half.
Roberts closed the run with a coast-to-coast layup and a pair of free throws in a 44 second span to increase the Bulldogs' lead to 56-35, with 12:38 to play in the game.
MSU need the big push to start the second half, after the team scored just 14 points in the final 8 1/2 minutes of the first half.
"At halftime, we just got refocused," Power said. "We realized that this game could still go either way. It was a conference game, and we came out with some intensity. I think that helped the rest of the way."
Tennessee, which was the fourth consecutive SEC team to lose by double digits to MSU, never came closer than 19 points of the lead after MSU's run to start the second half.
Volunteers guard Scooter McFadgon tallied 20 points in the loss to lead four Tennessee players in double figures.
C.J. Watson scored 12 points for Tennessee, and Brandon Crump and Jemere Hendrix each tallied 11 in the loss.
"(Mississippi State) did a good job of applying pressure to our big guys," said Tennessee coach Buzz Peterson. "I felt like sometimes we dribbled baseline and we just didnt make good decisions and threw the ball away."
Along with the double-figure scoring production from four of its five starters, MSU found a new weapon off its bench in the form of 7-foot-2 Wesley Morgan.
The sophomore center, who is from Gallatin, Tenn., played a career-high nine minutes in place of Marcus Campbell, who picked up two quick fouls in the first half and sat most of the game.
Morgan scored seven points and seven rebounds in his first SEC action.
"We have felt like Wesley has a chance to help us," Stansbury said. "He has a great work ethic and attitude and does all the little things. Tonight was the right opportunity to get him in. He does something to our team chemistry and changes our team."
MSU needed the push from Morgan, as Tennessee found away to stay in the game in the opening half.
Despite turning the ball over 12 times to the Bulldogs' four, the Volunteers never trailed by more than 13 in the first half.
MSU twice pushed its lead to 12 points in the game's opening 20 minutes, only to see Tennessee cut its deficit to 32-26, with 1:27 left in the half.
The Bulldogs boosted their advantage to 39-26 with 10 seconds left in the first, but McFadgon cut the lead to 10 with a three-point shot at the buzzer.
"We had to come out and be aggressive," Roberts said of what the team talked about at the break. "We had to refocus."
MSU will try to play with the same intensity it had to start the second half when the team continues its season on the road against Auburn on Saturday. Tip off is scheduled for 3 p.m.
