State falters down the stretch and drops 65-62 decision to San Francisco

TUPELO – Mississippi State’s did not experience good fortune Sunday at the Cadence Bank Arena in Tupelo in more ways than one. First and foremost, San Francisco’s Mookie Cook made two free throws with nine seconds remaining to send the Dons to a 65-62 win over Mississippi State.

To make matters worse, Mississippi State’s All-SEC guard Josh Hubbard suffered an ankle injury just two minutes into the game and did not play the rest of the way. The Bulldogs dropped to 4-5 on the season while San Francisco improved to 6-4.

“Obviously, I look at how can I help them more,” head coach Chris Jans said following the disappointing loss. “In the end it is my responsibility. I didn’t say too much to them after this game. They were hurting and somber. It’s tough and was pretty quiet, naturally so. They’ve all played basketball long enough now and I’ve coached the game long enough now.

“You win and lose in a variety of ways. You never know how the game is going to unfold. But this afternoon in this one, Josh (Hubbard) goes down and takes the air out of the building. But we had a chance to steal one and only led for a grand total of 17 seconds. They were in control most of the game and we didn’t execute down the stretch.”

Mississippi State made a late run in the closing minutes and actually took a 62-61 lead with 25 seconds left. Shawn Jones tipped in a Brandon Walker missed free throw to give State its first lead of the game.

But Cook, who also had 11 rebounds and nine points, provided the winning free throws and then Tyron Riley sealed the deal off a Jones turnover and had a dunk with nine seconds left, giving the Dons a three-point advantage. Jayden Epps missed a desperation 3 point attempt at the buzzer.

“Basketball is a funny sport,” Jans added. “It takes mysterious bounces sometimes. I didn’t see exactly what happened on that final inbounds play and I wish I had a better explanation. But Jayden was open and that is who we were trying to throw the ball to. Shawn read it differently than Jayden read it in terms of where he was going to catch the ball. Unfortunate play for us at that critical time of the game.”

Epps led State with a game-high 21 points, highlighted by a 5 of 10 showing from 3 point range, while Ja’Borri McGhee added 13. Riley led San Francisco with 16 points and Ryan Beasley added 12.

For the game, State shot 39% from the field and made 8 of 28 from 3 point territory. The Bulldogs were just 2 of 8 at the foul line and had five turnovers. San Francisco shot 43% from the field and made 7 of 29 beyond the 3 point arc while making 6 of 10 at the foul line. The Dons had six turnovers and out-rebounded State 43-40.

So far this season, State has made crucial mistakes down the stretch of close games. That includes an overtime loss and two more losses by less than three points. The key now is to turn around those late fortunes in future games to avoid more critical losses.

“Whenever we have our five guys on the court at a critical time like that, those five have to come together and play the game within the game, ” said McGhee, who also had six rebounds. “Taking a tough loss like that, it’s probably not the best of words coming from us or anybody. But we can’t drown ourself about it. We’re going to have even bigger opportunities coming forward. The biggest thing for us right now is to get back and get to work.”

State struggled mightily on the offensive end in the first half and shot just 26% en route to a 30-22 deficit at halftime. The Dons jumped out to a 13-5 lead before State tied it at 15-15 on a Dellquan Warren 3 pointer. But San Francisco controlled the rest of the half and led by as many as 10 in the opening half.

The Bulldogs were just 3 of 16 beyond the arc in the first half and just 1 of 5 at the charity stripe. State also had three turnovers in the first half. San Francisco shot 39% in the first half and made 3 of 16 from 3 point range. The Dons were 3 of 4 at the foul line, had four turnovers and out-rebounded State, 26-23, in the opening half.

With a brutal non-conference slate already in the loss column, State now has almost a week off. Naturally, the hope is that Hubbard will return to the court sooner than later.

“It just helped us want to win more for our brother,” Epps said afterwards. “We wanted him out there with us and we needed him. But Coach told us it is that next man up mentality. We couldn’t put our heads down and try to win it for him. We came up short but we are going back to the drawing board. I am pretty sure (Hubbard) will be back in no time.”

Up Next

Mississippi State returns to action on Saturday as the Bulldogs travel out west. Mississippi State will face Utah in a 9 p.m. tipoff in a neutral-site game at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. The game will also be televised by ESPNU. Utah is 7-3 this season with a win over Ole Miss and losses to Grand Canyon, Cal-Poly and California