Mississippi State’s Tolu Smith sparked an early second-half run with 10 of his 15 points and the No. 17 Bulldogs remained unbeaten after they finished off a 68-66 victory over Nicholls at Starkville, Miss.

Down 30-27 at the break after a sloppy first half, the Bulldogs (11-0) chose to run their offense through the 6-foot-11 Smith, who notched four field goals and two free throws within the first five minutes of the second half.

The Bulldogs made 9 of their first 12 shots after the break to take a 52-41 lead.

Nicholls (5-6) whittled the lead to two with 2.8 seconds left, and after stealing a Mississippi State inbound pass, Pierce Spencer missed a 3-point attempt as time expired.

Despite allowing at least 60 points for the first time this season, the Bulldogs remained one of six undefeated teams in the nation.

Smith, who went 7 for 8 at the free-throw line, made two key foul shots with 32 seconds left and had eight rebounds and two steals. Tyler Stevenson and Dashawn Davis scored 14 points apiece for Mississippi State.

Latrell Jones had 15 points and eight rebounds for the Colonels, while Marek Nelson and Caleb Huffman each had 12 points.

In the seventh meeting between the schools and first since 2010, the Colonels started fast against the Southeastern Conference school. With both teams’ offenses failing to produce early, Nicholls went ahead 8-2 on Huffman’s fastbreak layup just after the first media timeout.

But the Bulldogs continued to struggle, missing 12 of their first 15 shots from the field and trailing by as many as eight, while Huffman scored 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting.

In its second straight inconsistent first half, Mississippi State fell behind 30-27 while just 26.9 percent (7 of 26) from the field before the break while missing all eight of its shots from distance.

Nicholls made 14 of 32 shots (43.8percent) in the first half behind Huffman’s 12 points.

–Field Level Media