State Bests Lions 82-67 At Humphrey Coliseum

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STARKVILLE, Miss. - All-SEC center Jarvis Varnado fell just short of his second career triple-double and tied for a game-high 20 points to power the Mississippi State Bulldogs (1-1) to an 82-67 victory Thursday night against Southeastern Louisiana (2-1) in Humphrey Coliseum.

Varnado recorded his second-straight game scoring at least 20 points, scoring exactly 20 against SELU on 6-of-8 shooting. Having led the nation the past two consecutive years in shot-blocking, the senior swatted eight shots and claimed nine rebounds.

Notching the game's only double-double was junior Phil Turner, who tied a career-high 14 rebounds, scored 10 points and handed out three assists.

Also scoring in double-digits were Ravern Johnson (17), Barry Stewart (13) and Dee Bost (10).

"It feels good to get one in the win column," MSU coach Rick Stansbury said. "We found a better way to battle a little bit in the second half than we did the other night. They have a nice team, and I told their coach that I would be surprised if they didn't win their league. They came in averaging 95 points, so I thought we did a great job on their shooters."

Leading SELU was center Patrick Sullivan, who shot 9-of-21 from the field to score 20 points. Sullivan also grabbed six rebounds and blocked three shots.

The Bulldogs never trailed in the contest and saw action from Elgin Bailey for the first time since an ankle injury sidelined him midway through last season in the first half. State led at the break 41-29.

In a hard-fought second half, SELU orchestrated a 10-2 run sparked by a Patrick Sullivan layup to close the MSU lead to just 59-51 with 10:43 left. A trey from Bost ended the stretch, and the Bulldogs scored seven-straight capped by a Stewart trey to ice the win.

After being outrebounded by one in its first outing, MSU beat SELU on the boards by a 47-30 margin and drained 10-of-25 treys.

Mississippi State looks to a quick turnaround, as it hosts  Bethune-Cookman (1-2) at 6 p.m. on Saturday.