Abdul Ado's tip-in with 0.6 seconds left gave Mississippi State a 78-77 road win over Arkansas on Saturday afternoon at Fayetteville, Ark.
Ado's only basket in 24 minutes of game action came after a missed drive by Tyson Carter, who had 26 points off the bench on 8-of-14 shooting, and prevented the Bulldogs (16-9, 7-5 SEC) from losing a game they had led by 17 points with 14:37 to go.
Carter's 3-pointer at the buzzer gave MSU a 40-32 halftime lead, part of an 8-0 run over the final 1:02 of the first half. Another 8-0 run upped the Bulldogs' lead to 51-36 with 15:56 left, and Carter's 3-point play gave them a 56-39 lead before Arkansas went on a 17-4 run to cut the deficit to 60-56 with 10:52 remaining.
The Razorbacks (16-9, 4-8) got within 70-68 with 3:48 left then tied it at 72 with 2:31 left on a pair of free throws by Mason Jones, who had 38 points and was 18 of 21 from the foul line.
A 3-pointer by Desi Sills, who had 15 points, gave Arkansas its first lead since late in the first half at 75-72 with 1:47 to go. A steal and dunk by Carter put MSU back on top 76-75 with 1:13 left, then two more Jones free throws put the Razorbacks ahead with 59 seconds to go.
Carter missed a jumper with 43 seconds left but MSU opted not to foul or call timeout, instead forcing Jones into a missed 3-pointer with 12 seconds left to set up the game-winning possession.
MSU, which shot 58.8 percent, got 17 points and eight rebounds from Reggie Perry. D.J. Stewart Jr. and Nick Weatherspoon had 10 apiece.
It was the fourth straight loss for Arkansas, which fell to 4-5 in games decided by five or fewer points.
--Field Level Media
Mississippi State | Arkansas | |
Tyson Carter 26 | Scoring | Mason Jones 38 |
Nick Weatherspoon 3 | Assists | Jimmy Whitt Jr. 3 |
Reggie Perry 8 | Rebounds | Mason Jones 6 |
Tyson Carter 8 | Free Throws Made | Mason Jones 18 |
D.J. Stewart Jr. 2 | Steals | Adrio Bailey 1 |
Abdul Ado 2 | Blocks | Adrio Bailey 1 |
Team | Points | FG% | 3PM-3PA | FTM-FTA | Assists | Rebounds | Blocks | Steals | Turnovers |
Mississippi State | 78 | 58.8 | 3-7 | 15-22 | 9 | 26 | 6 | 5 | 16 |
Arkansas | 77 | 46.2 | 6-16 | 23-26 | 10 | 26 | 1 | 4 | 13 |