Every (Bull)dog Has Its Day: Ware leads Mississippi State to upset win over South Carolina
Final: Mississippi State 68, South Carolina 58
MSU: Gavin Ware 16 pts, 12 reb
When these two teams met back on Jan. 26 in Columbia, Michael Carrera scored a career-high 34 points in an 84-74 win.
This time around, Carrera was held to six points, and it was Ben Howland and the Bulldogs (13-15, 6-10 SEC) who got to flex their muscles — knocking off the Gamecocks Saturday in a game where they never trailed.
Mississippi State was powered by Gavin Ware, who recorded his eighth double-double of the season with 16 points and 12 rebounds. Craig Sword and Quinndary Weatherspoon added 14 points apiece, and I.J. Ready had a career-high 5 steals.
Mississippi State shot 45.5 percent from the floor in the win, and turned up the effort defensively finishing with a season-high 13 takeaways.
Sindarius Thornwell scored a team-high 12 points for the Gamecocks (23-6, 10-6 SEC) who only shot 30 percent for the game and were outscored 20-12 in the paint and 15-2 in transition.
Taking Control: Vanderbilt moves into fourth place in the SEC with win over Kentucky
Final: Vanderbilt 74, No. 16 Kentucky 62
VANDY: Matthew Fisher-Davis 20 pts, 4 reb
Despite an offensive onslaught from freshman Jamal Murray, who scored 21 of his 33 points in the first half, the Commodores (18-11, 10-6 SEC) were able to use a 13-2 second-half run to take a 51-47 lead, and they never looked back.
The Wildcats (21-8, 11-5 SEC) were awful in the second half, shooting 26.9 percent from the field, and they went scoreless over the final 3:47 of the game to give Vanderbilt its 13th home win of the season.
Matthew Fisher-Davis paced the Commodores with 20 points and four rebounds. Jeff Roberson added 16 points and eight rebounds, and Damian Jones contributed 15 points, eight rebounds, 1 assist, 1 block and a steal.
Tyler Ulis was the second-leading scorer for Kentucky with 12 points.
Vanderbilt has now won seven straight in Memorial Gymnasium, and has beaten consecutive ranked opponents for the first time since 2012 after losing 13 in a row to Top 25 teams.
Always Finish: Blakeney’s career-high 32 lifts LSU over Florida
Final: LSU 96, Florida 91
LSU: Antonio Blakeney 32 pts, 1 reb, 1 ast, 1 blk
Freshman Antonio Blakeney played hero ball for the Tigers (17-12, 10-6 SEC) Saturday, netting eight consecutive free throws in the game’s final minute to end the team’s three-game slide.
Ben Simmons had 22 points and 11 rebounds, and Tim Quarterman added 15 points for LSU. The Tigers shot 56 percent for the game and led by as many as 18 points before Florida was able to cut the lead to one with under a minute remaining.
John Egbunu scored a career-high 22 points for Florida (17-12, 8-8 SEC).
The month of February hasn’t been kind to LSU. However, thanks to the play of Simmons and Blakeney, the Tigers are still on track for a double-bye in the SEC Tournament and can solidify that bid with a strong finish to the regular season.
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