Dawgs fall to State, 83-68
Charles Rhodes had a career-high 27 points and Mississippi State dominated the second half of its 83-68 victory over Georgia on Saturday night.
Dietrich Slater added a career-high 22 points and 10 rebounds for Mississippi State (14-13, 4-10 Southeastern Conference), which scored the first 16 points of the second half, outscored Georgia 51-31 in the final 20 minutes and led by as many as 18.
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Freshmen Jamont Gordon and Richard Delk had 13 points apiece, Gordon added 12 rebounds and Mississippi State shot better than 58 percent and outrebounded the visiting Bulldogs 48-31.
Georgia (15-12, 5-9) led by as many as 13 in the first half, taking a 29-16 led with 7:32 left on a 3-pointer by Channing Toney. Mississippi State rallied and closed to 37-32 at halftime.
State then opened the half with a 16-0 run over the first 6 1/2 minutes to take an 11-point lead.
During the spurt, Gordon and Delk had back-to-back 3-pointers, while Slater scored seven points and capped the spurt with a free throw with 13:47 to play to make it 48-37.
Georgia's first basket of the half, a layup by Steve Newman, came with 13:36 remaining.
Mississippi State took its largest lead, 80-62, on a free throw by Slater with 1:46 remaining, and beat Georgia by double figures for the fourth straight time.
Rhodes surpassed his previous career-high of 24 points, set in December against Jacksonville State and equalled last month at Mississippi. Slater's previous best of 20 points came in the season opener against Chattanooga.
Levi Stukes led Georgia with 17 points, and Sundiata Gaines and Toney had 11 apiece.
Georgia has lost four of five.
Mississippi State played without its starting point guard. Jamall Edmondson missed the game with pneumonia, coach Rick Stansbury said, and was not at Humphrey Coliseum. He was replaced in the lineup by Delk.