Shakeel Moore made a fast-break layup with 10.5 seconds to play to lift visiting Mississippi State past Missouri 58-56 Sunday in Columbia, Mo.
Iverson Molinar scored 16 points and Garrison Brooks added 11 for the Bulldogs (16-11, 7-7 SEC), who won their first true road game of the season while keeping their NCAA Tournament at-large hopes alive.
They also beat Missouri (10-17, 4-10) for the second time in three days. The Bulldogs defeated the Tigers 68-49 Friday in Starkville, Miss., to snap a four-game losing streak.
Javon Pickett scored 16 points and Jarron Coleman added 15 for the Tigers, who lost for the eighth time in their last 10 games.
Missouri started fast, breaking out to a 9-2 lead. The Tigers made their first three shots from the floor, including Coleman’s 3-pointer, and their first two free throws.
The Bulldogs answered with a 9-0 run behind four different scorers to take an 11-9 lead. The Tigers responded with an 8-2 surge with Pickett scoring four baskets in the paint, three of them on fast breaks.
Then the game settled into a defensive struggle. It was was tied at 17-all, 19-all and 21-all before the Bulldogs outscored the Tigers 10-2 in the final four minutes of the first half to take a 31-23 lead.
The Tigers opened the second half with a 21-8 run — with Kobe Brown scoring eight of those points — to take a 44-39 lead. Brown finished with 12 points.
Mississippi State countered with a 12-5 rally, sparked by Brooks’ 3-pointer, to move ahead 51-49 with 6:06 left.
Coleman answered that with a fast-break layup and 3-point jumper to put Missouri up 54-51 with 3:41 left.
The Tigers remained ahead until Molinar tied the game with a driving layup with 37 seconds left. After Coleman missed from long range, Moore made the decisive bucket.
Pickett missed a desperation 3-pointer for Missouri as time expired.
–Field Level Media
