College basketball roundup: Wichita State edges Southern Miss; Mississippi State beats Cincinnati

Published 11:22 pm Saturday, December 15, 2018

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Markis McDuffie and Jaime Echenique each scored 17 points and Wichita State fought off Southern Miss, 63-60 on Saturday.

Dominic Magee’s layup with 53 seconds remaining put Southern Miss on top 61-60 before Echenique threw down a dunk 17 seconds later.

Magee missed a jump shot on the Golden Eagles’ next possession and Southern Miss was forced to foul. Morris Udeze made the first of two free throws before Erik Stevenson grabbed the offensive rebound off the miss. Magee fouled McDuffie and he made 1 of 2 and the Shockers led 63-60.

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Wichita State’s Samajae Haynes-Jones fouled Leonard Harper-Baker with 2 seconds left and he missed all three foul shots to end the game.

“Normally, when you come into a place like this, you’d be happy as heck to have an opportunity like that at the end,” Southern Miss coach Doc Sadler said. “That’s what you play for, to have a few minutes left and still be in the basketball game. You can’t give up the offensive rebounds on the free throw and jump shot in the last couple of minutes.”

Earlier, Wichita State (6-4) outscored Southern Miss 20-8 over the span of two halves. Rod Brown’s layup with 2:46 left before halftime made it 26-21 and the Shockers went to intermission with a 33-25 lead. McDuffie’s 3-pointer with 14:38 remaining extended the lead 44-29.

McDuffie’s three-point play with 10:46 left made it 52-36, but the Golden Eagles woke up with a 17-3 run and trimmed the deficit to 55-53 on Magee’s 3 with 4:26 to go.

Cortez Edwards led Southern Miss (7-3) with 15 points.

Mississippi State 70, Cincinnati 59
Mississippi State made some beautiful passes, clutch 3-pointers and spectacular dunks during Saturday night’s impressive 70-59 victory over Cincinnati.

But there was an ugly, disjointed play during the second half where maroon and white jerseys were flying all around the floor that really got the attention of Bulldogs’ coach Ben Howland.

“There was one play where everyone was diving on the floor for the ball,” Howland said, excitement rising in his voice. “So many great plays of hustle and grit and fight and toughness.
“That’s what it takes to be good.”

The 18th-ranked Bulldogs earned the hard-fought victory with a balanced offensive performance. Quinndary Weatherspoon and Lamar Peters both scored 14 points while Reggie Perry and Tyson Carter both added 12.
Mississippi State (9-1) used a 7-0 run midway through the second half — holding the Bearcats scoreless for more than four minutes — to break a tie game and take a 52-45 lead.

The Bulldogs were able to keep a fairly comfortable advantage the rest of the way. Mississippi State shot 12-of-23 (52 percent) from 3-point range. Peters added nine assists.

“I’m just slowing down, letting the game come to me,” Peters said. “I know I’ve got good shooters with Aric (Holman), Quinndary, Tyson and Nick (Weatherspoon). I know how much they’ve been putting in and it’s paying off. I’ve got a lot of trust in those games.

“When I see them open I want to give them the opportunity to knock down the stop.”

Cincinnati coach Mick Cronin said his team had too many careless possessions to beat a top-20 team on the road.

“You can’t turn the ball over against a team like this,” Cronin said. “It’s like throwing gas on a fire. You can’t just give them layups because they’re not going to give you layups.”

Perry came off the bench to score 10 points in the first half, giving Mississippi State some much-needed offense after starting forward Abdul Ado picked up two quick fouls. The 6-foot-10 freshman was a McDonald’s All-American and has quickly earned an increased role with his ability to score both inside and outside.

Mississippi State hit 7 of 12 3-pointers in the first half to take a 37-32 halftime lead.
Cincinnati (9-2) had its nine-game winning streak snapped. The Bearcats never looked comfortable offensively and shot just 37 percent from the field.

Jarron Cumberland led Cincinnati with 21 points. Keith Williams added 15.

“I’m glad we played this game,” Cronin said. “Because everything you’re supposed to do right, if you don’t do it right they’ll hurt you. They can really make you pay. … We learned some hard lessons tonight.”

Murray State 74, Jackson State 57
Shaq Buchanan hit three 3-pointers and scored 19 points, and Tevin Brown sank four 3s on his way to 16 points to propel Murray State past Jackson State.

Ja Morant finished with a career-high 14 assists to go with 10 points for the Racers (7-1).
Chris Howell’s layup pulled Jackson State within 23-22 with 6:28 left in the first half, but Brion Sanchious and Buchanan had three-point plays to spark an 11-2 run and the Racers led 34-24 at intermission.

Buchanan hit back-to-back 3-pointers to give the Racers a 46-30 lead with 16:06 left to play and the Tigers got no closer than 11 from there.

Howell topped the Tigers (2-9) with 17 points and 10 rebounds for his fifth double-double of the season.