NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Mississippi State planted the seeds for its school record of 19 made 3-pointers with some hard work over the summer.

“Our guys, I’m telling you right now, I’ve never had a team collectively work harder at shooting than our guys did this last offseason,” coach Ben Howland said.

Lamar Peters scored 28 points and was 8-of-11 from beyond the arc, leading No. 22 Mississippi State to a wire-to-wire 82-71 win over Clemson in the Never Forget Tribute Classic on Saturday.

Quinndary Weatherspoon added 20 points and Aric Holman scored 16 for Mississippi State, which shot 63 percent (19-for-30) from 3-point range.

The Bulldogs shot 56 percent (10-of -18) from 3-point range in the first half to take a 42-34 lead. They led by as many 19 in the half.

Clemson (6-3) got 23 points from Aamir Simms and 18 from Elijah Thomas. The Tigers were without their leading scorer, Marcquis Reed, who averages 19.4 points per game. He suffered a knee sprain in the last minute of Clemson’s previous game against Saint Peter’s.

Weatherspoon’s 3-pointer from the top of the key put Mississippi State ahead 74-60 with 6:13 remaining, capping a 9-0 run. Clemson did not get closer than eight points the rest of the way after closing within five a few times earlier in the second half.

“They really were packing it in today. We were expecting that,” Howland said. “They were looking at our 3-point percentage (32 percent) this season, and they thought, ‘We’re going to play off them and pack it in.’ And that’s what they did. They were going under and around ball screens. You take what the defense gives you. Basically, what the defense was giving us today were 3s.”

The long-range shooting was a surprise to Clemson coach Brad Brownell.

“Obviously, we knew Peters had a great night the other night, but he was shooting poorly going into that. Now that it’s two games in a row, it’s like, ‘Holy cow,’” Brownell said. “Everybody who’s going to see it after these two is going to realize, wow, this guy can really shoot it.

“We knew Weatherspoon was better than his stats as well, and he made four. Holman, we thought was streaky, and this was one of those nights where he was on.”

Ole Miss 81, Illinois State 74
Hot shooting and opportunistic defense Saturday night propelled Ole Miss to a road victory over Illinois State.

The Rebels (6-2) shot 52.6 percent for the game, including 60 percent through the first 25 minutes, and scored 12 points off of ISU’s 10 turnovers.

Breein Tyree scored 22 points, including 17 in the second half, and Terence Davis scored 20 for Ole Miss.
Davis scored 16 points in the first half and made 7 of 10 field goals, two from 3-point range, before going to the bench with his second foul.

ISU had no answer for anything Davis did in the opening period and stayed close mainly by outscoring Ole Miss 7-0 from the foul line.

Tyree took over in the second half, and Ole Miss also controlled the rebounding 23-15 in the final 20 minutes.

Milik Yarbrough led ISU (6-5) with 16 points, and Phil Fayne added 13 points to go with 11 rebounds for the Redbirds, who lost their third game in a row.

Ole Miss will return to Mississippi to play Southeastern Louisiana in Jackson on Wednesday, its first appearance in the state’s capital city since 2007.

Alcorn State 109, Champion Christian 45
Troymain Crosby recorded a triple-double, Reginal Johnson scored a season-high 24 points with four 3-pointers and eight rebounds, five players reached double-figure scoring and Alcorn State cruised past Champion Christian College on Saturday.

Crosby scored 18 points with 10 rebounds and 10 assists for just the second triple-double in Alcorn State history, and first since Eddie Archie in 1983.

Deshaw Andrews and Maurice Howard scored 17 apiece for Alcorn State, and Devon Brewer added 10 with 12 rebounds. Howard had seven assists as Alcorn State had 28 assists on 41 baskets. The Braves (3-6) shot 52 percent from the floor, with 14 3-pointers. They outrebounded the Tigers 63-27.

Champion Christian, which competes in the Association of Christian College Athletics, was led by 11 points each from Austin Hall, Vernon Burns and Tarrance Davis.

Alcorn State has scored more than 100 points to defeat small-college foes its last two games.