Josh Hubbard scored 16 points and KeShawn Murphy added 14 to lead No. 22 Mississippi State to a 76-75 win at Georgia on Saturday.
Coming off consecutive 20-plus point games, Hubbard made 7-of-14 attempts from the field. Hubbard did, however, score his 1,000th career point in the second half.
Murphy went 7 of 13 from the field and grabbed eight rebounds for Mississippi State (17-6, 5-5 SEC). Michael Nwoko finished with 11 points, while Riley Kugel added 10 off the bench.
Silas Demary Jr. paced Georgia (16-8, 4-7) with 23 points, six rebounds and seven assists, with 16 points and five assists coming in the second half. Star forward Asa Newell also made his presence felt in the second half. He scored 11 points in the frame and made all three of his field-goal attempts, including two from long range, and finished with 16 points.
Georgia tied the game at 71 on Newell’s 3-pointer with 4:04 remaining, but the Bulldogs just couldn’t get over the hump. Murphy quickly answered with a layup to put Mississippi State ahead 73-71, and the Bulldogs kept the lead despite late free-throw difficulties.
Georgia was in position to win the game in the closing seconds, but Claudell Harris Jr. stole the ball from Demary.
Georgia erased an eight-point halftime deficit with an 8-0 run to open the second half, tying the game at 40 on RJ Godfrey’s layup with 17:32 remaining.
Mississippi State promptly built a new eight-point lead with a 13-5 run, before Newell and Blue Cain made consecutive 3-pointers to trim the Bulldogs’ lead to 53-51 with just over 13 minutes left.
Mississippi State took a 40-32 lead into halftime, thanks to 10 points each from Hubbard and Murphy. Nwoko scored Mississippi State’s first nine points on four field goals and a free throw, though he didn’t take another shot over the remainder of the first half.
Mississippi State shot 55.2 percent from the floor, including 6 of 20 (30 percent) from 3-point range. Georgia hit 46.3 percent of its shots from the field, including 8 of 21 (38.1 percent) from beyond the arc.
–Field Level Media
