Sean Gardner has had an up-and-down career at Arkansas State, but Wednesday night the junior guard led the Red Wolves to their biggest victory of the season.
Gardner made 5 of 10 three-pointers and finished with a game-high 22 points as ASU beat Mississippi State 69-55 at Humphrey Coliseum in Starkville, Miss.
Cameron Golden added 15 points and Nouhoum Bocoum had 11 points and eight rebounds for the Red Wolves (3-4).
"That is a good win for our team," ASU Coach John Brady said. "Any time you can go on the road and beat a Southeastern Conference team is good for us.
Mississippi State (5-4), which was picked last in the SEC, lost its fourth consecutive game after ASU held it to 32.3 percent shooting and 3-for-17 shooting from behind the three-point line. ASU also held a 39-33 rebounding advantage.
"This is about as disappointing a loss we've had since we've been here," Mississippi State Coach Rick Ray said. "I thought our defensive effort was really lacking, and that is what's so troubling. Defense is what we have to hang our hat on. Our offensive woes are well-documented, and we lacked defensive intensity.
"Our goal is to make people shoot contested jump shots, and I thought there were way too many uncontested jump shots out there."
The victory came a week after ASU lost 87-46 at Purdue, the Red Wolves' worst nonconference loss under Coach John Brady, and four days after losing 73-65 at Toledo.
Gardner's 22 points were the most he has scored against a Division I team this year. He scored 28 points against NAIA Belhaven and had 12 against Toledo. But he had also was held to two points by Purdue and four points by the University of Central Arkansas, which was ASU's only previous victory over a Division I team before Wednesday.
Gardner missed his first two shots Wednesday before hitting a three-pointer with 8:42 left in the first half to put ASU up 22-21, and his jumper less than two minutes later made it 24-21.
ASU led 35-27 at halftime and never trailed in the second half.
"We have 10 new players on our team and had not figured out how to close out a game," Brady said. "Our emphasis has been to play consistent for 40 minutes. Tonight we were able to finish a game."
Gardner made consecutive threes in the second half that made it 49-38 with 12:24 left, and his last three came with 6:27 left and gave ASU a 60-48 lead.
Roquez Johnson led Mississippi State with 20 points on 8-of-11 shooting, but the rest of the team was 13 of 54 from the floor.
Little Rock Parkview graduate I.J. Ready was just 3 of 14 from the field and finished with 8 points.
SOUTHLAND MEN
NEW MEXICO 76,
CENTRAL ARKANSAS 55
Deshawn Delaney tied a career-high with 22 points and grabbed 13 rebounds as New Mexico (7-3) defeated the University of Central Arkansas (0-9) in front of 13,117 at The Pit in Albuquerque, N.M.
Hugh Greenwood made 4 of 6 three-pointers and finished with 14 points, while Jordan Goodman added 13 for New Mexico.
The Bears led 16-7 midway through the first half after two three-pointers by Mike Martin and another by Jordan Howard, but New Mexico outscored UCA 18-1 to go up 25-17 and led 35-30 going into halftime.
UCA pulled to within 36-34 early in the second half before New Mexico used an 8-0 run to pull away. The Lobos outscored the Bears 41-25 in the half.
New Mexico shot 46.6 percent (27 of 58) from the field and 40 percent (6 of 15) from behind the three-point line. The Lobos also controlled the boards as they outrebounded UCA 46-29, including 17-9 on the offensive end, and outscored UCA 38-20 inside.
Howard scored 12 points to lead four UCA players with at least 10 each. Boo Milligan added 11 points for UCA, while Martin and Jake Zuilhof had 10 each. The Bears shot 35.7 percent (20 of 56) from the floor and 24 percent (6 of 25) from behind the three-point line.
Sports on 12/18/2014