National Basketball Association
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Mississippi St. 85, Morehead St. 76
When: 7:00 PM ET, Thursday, December 22, 2016
Where: Humphrey Coliseum, Starkville, Mississippi
Officials: # Anthony Jordan, # Jamie Luckie, # Kerry Sitton
Attendance: 8328

Mississippi State guard Quinndary Weatherspoon scored a career-high 27 points to lead the host Bulldogs to an 85-76 comeback victory over Morehead State.

The Bulldogs (8-3) trailed by 10 points at halftime, but Weatherspoon rallied them back by scoring 15 points on 5 of 7 shooting from the field in the second half.

Morehead State (3-9) was led by guards Lamontray Harris and Xavier Moon, who combined for 42 points on 16 of 25 shooting from the field. Moon had 22 points and Harris totaled 20. The Eagles shot 50 percent from the field.

Mississippi State made 53.4 percent of its shots with guard I.J. Ready (6 of 10) contributing 19 points and forward Aric Holman (5 of 7) adding 12.

Morehead State took a 41-31 lead into halftime by shooting 57.1 percent from the field, including Harris and Moon each scoring 10 points on 9 of 12 combined shooting.

Mississippi State, 1 of 8 from 3-point range in the first half, made 4 of 7 from beyond the arc early in the second half to spark a comeback.

The Bulldogs opened the second half on a 13-4 run to cut the lead to 45-44 with 16:30 left in regulation. The Bulldogs had three players each make a 3-pointer in that stretch by Weatherspoon, Xavian Stapleton and Ready.

They took their first lead since 11:37 remained in the first half when guard Tyson Carter made a 3-pointer to make the score 49-48 with 14:28 left in the game.

Weatherspoon and Ready combined to make all 10 of their free-throw attempts in the last 1:36 to allow Mississippi State to pull away.
Top Game Performances
 
Morehead St.   Mississippi St.
Xavier Moon 22 Scoring Quinndary Weatherspoon 27
Xavier Moon 5 Assists I.J. Ready 3
Lamontray Harris 7 Rebounds Mario Kegler 7
Lamontray Harris 4 Free Throws Made I.J. Ready 6
Xavier Moon 3 Steals Xavian Stapleton 2
Lamontray Harris 1 Blocks Aric Holman 3
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Points FG% 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Assists Rebounds Blocks Steals Turnovers
Morehead St. 76 50.0 9-19 11-13 10 29 2 4 16
Mississippi St. 85 53.4 5-20 18-29 10 28 4 5 5