Mississippi State spreads out Vanderbilt, 73-66

STARKVILLE, Miss. — Mississippi State managed to do something against Vanderbilt that few teams have been able to do this year.

Score.

Mississippi State shot 48 percent from the field, the highest percentage against the Commodores this season, and Ravern Johnson and Dee Bost scored a combined 34 points to lead the Bulldogs to a 73-66 victory on Saturday.

Mississippi State (13-5, 3-0 SEC) led 32-27 at the half and took control with a 14-3 run early in the second half.

“We spread them out,” Bost said. “We had some mismatches, and I was able to get in the lane and make some things happen.”

Vanderbilt (12-5, 1-2), which leads the nation in opponents’ field goal percentage (35.5), pulled within six with 1:50 remaining, but couldn’t get closer.

“When you talk about toughness, usually you’re talking about defense and rebounding,” Mississippi State coach Rick Stansbury said. “We showed some toughness in some other areas tonight. We showed offensive toughness in the second half.”

The Bulldogs hit nine of their first 12 shots to open the second half.

“When we give up points at that rate, even though we were scoring, that’s not the kind of situation we can win,” Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings said.

Vanderbilt shot 28 of 62 in the game (45.2 percent) but couldn’t establish its perimeter game. The Commodores started 1 of 6 from beyond the arc but finished with only five 3-pointers.

The Commodores committed 17 turnovers, resulting in 19 points for Mississippi State.

“Their point guard’s penetration hurt us, but most of all, we just did not play intelligently,” Stallings said. “We’re not going to win many basketball games on the road playing with the basketball IQ that we had tonight.”

Johnson paced the Bulldogs with 18 points and was 6 of 12 from the field, including four 3-pointers.

After reaching double figures in five of his last seven games, Johnson was quiet during the team’s first two SEC games.

“Everyone else has been on and I haven’t been in the zone like I normally am,” Johnson said. “But tonight, we needed someone to step up, and I was glad to be that guy.”

Dee Bost added 16 points and six assists for the Bulldogs. Phil Turner chipped in with 14 points.

Mississippi State’s Jarvis Varnado, the nation’s leading shot blocker, had three blocks and eight points, but was limited because of foul trouble.

The Bulldogs had 10 steals for the third time this season.

Jeffery Taylor paced the Commodores with 18 points. Jermaine Beal and A.J. Ogilvy added 14 points each and Brad Tinsley had 10.