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National Basketball Association
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Mississippi St. 75, Vanderbilt 74
When: 9:00 PM ET, Tuesday, February 16, 2016
Where: Humphrey Coliseum, Starkville, Mississippi
Officials: # Roger Ayers, # Jeff Clark, # Antinio Petty
Attendance: 6194

Freshman guard Quinndary Weatherspoon drained a 3-pointer as time expired and scored 24 points to lead Mississippi State to a stunning 75-74 victory over Vanderbilt on Tuesday in SEC play at Starkville, Miss.

The Bulldogs recovered from a 17-point second-half deficit and their only lead had been at 2-0 prior to Weatherspoon's 3-pointer from the left corner. Freshman guard Malik Newman missed a straight-away 3-pointer with five seconds left and senior forward Gavin Ware collected the offensive rebound and passed the ball to junior guard I.J. Ready, who spotted the unguarded and ready-to-shoot Weatherspoon.

Ware had 18 points and 13 rebounds and senior guard Craig Sword scored 14 points for Mississippi State (11-14, 4-9).

Sophomore guard Matthew Fisher-Davis scored 17 of his 20 points in the first half for the Commodores (15-11, 7-6). Junior center Damian Jones had 20 points and 10 rebounds, sophomore forward Jeff Roberson scored 12 points and sophomore guard Luke Baldwin IV had 10.

Jones scored give straight points to give the Commodores a 59-42 lead with 14:12 remaining before Mississippi State exploded with an 18-7 burst to move within six with 7:04 left. Baldwin's 3-pointer gave Vanderbilt a 71-62 lead before the Bulldogs rattled off eight straight to move within one on Ready's 3-pointer with 3:47 to go.

A dunk by Jones gave Vanderbilt a 73-70 edge with 1:53 to play and Ware answered with a layup with 39.8 seconds left. Sophomore guard Riley LaChance split two free throws to give the Commodores a 74-72 lead with 26.5 seconds to go and Mississippi State took advantage of the miss.

Fisher-Davis made five first-half 3-pointers to help the Commodores possess a 41-32 lead at the break.

Vanderbilt used a 12-1 burst to take an early 11-point lead and stretched the advantage to 21-7 with 9:30 left in the first half. The Bulldogs crept within five points on a three-point play by Ware with 7:20 remaining but Fisher-Davis responded with back-to-back 3-pointers and added more two more later in the half to help account for the nine-point halftime lead.
Top Game Performances
 
Vanderbilt   Mississippi St.
Matthew Fisher-Davis 20 Scoring Quinndary Weatherspoon 24
Wade Baldwin IV 9 Assists I.J. Ready 6
Damian Jones 10 Rebounds Gavin Ware 13
Wade Baldwin IV 3 Free Throws Made Quinndary Weatherspoon 8
Wade Baldwin IV 1 Steals Travis Daniels 2
Luke Kornet 2 Blocks Gavin Ware 1
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Points FG% 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Assists Rebounds Blocks Steals Turnovers
Vanderbilt 74 44.3 10-23 10-17 15 36 4 2 8
Mississippi St. 75 48.3 7-17 12-18 14 33 2 4 8