Spokesman-Review
National Basketball Association
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Mississippi State 80, Louisiana State 77
When: 7:00 PM ET, Thursday, March 8, 2018
Where: Scottrade Center, St. Louis, Missouri
Officials: # Tony Greene, # Jason Baker, # Wil Howard
Attendance: N/A
Lamar Peters scored 24 points, and No. 7 seed Mississippi State held off No. 10 seed LSU 80-77 in the second round of the SEC tournament Thursday night in St. Louis.

The Bulldogs (22-10) will face second-seeded Tennessee in the quarterfinals Friday. The Tigers, who had beaten Mississippi State 78-57 in the regular-season finale for both teams last Saturday in Baton Rouge, La., fell to 17-14.

Quinndary Weatherspoon and Nick Weatherspoon scored 15 points each for the Bulldogs. Aric Holman had 11 points and 12 rebounds.

SEC All-Freshman point guard Tremont Waters, who played with a plastic mask on his face to protect a broken nose suffered in practice Monday, scored a game-high 28 points to lead the Tigers. Daryl Edwards scored 11 and Brandon Rachal had 10.

Waters scored LSU's first five points of the second half and the Tigers quickly reduced a 16-point halftime deficit to 10.

MSU extended the lead to 56-42 before Edwards scored nine points to help LSU get within 66-62.

The Tigers got within two points before Peters' season-high fifth 3-pointer and a layup by Nick Weatherspoon gave the Bulldogs a 73-66 lead with five minutes remaining.

LSU went scoreless for three minutes before Skylar Mays' layup ended the drought and cut the deficit to 73-68 with 2:56 left.

Both teams made a free throw before Nick Weatherspoon made two free throws to give MSU a 76-69 lead with 1:34 left.

After a Waters layup, Holman made two free throws to give the Bulldogs a seven-point lead with 34 seconds left.

Mays made a 3-pointer with 22 seconds left and Rachal stole the ball from Peters, leading to Waters' 3-pointer that cut MSU's lead to 78-77 with nine seconds left.

The Bulldogs broke the press and Peters fed Nick Weatherspoon for a dunk with one second left. Rachal's desperation 3-pointer missed.

Peters made three 3-pointers and Nick Weatherspoon made one as MSU jumped to an 18-8 lead.

Waters answered with two 3-pointers and Brandon Sampson made one as LSU got within 22-18.

Peters made another 3-pointer and the Bulldogs rebuilt the lead to 33-21.

After Sampson made two free throws, Tyson Carter made a 3-pointer and Holman added two 3-pointers as MSU took a 45-29 halftime lead.

--Field Level Media

Top Game Performances
 
Louisiana State   Mississippi State
Tremont Waters 28 Scoring Lamar Peters 24
Tremont Waters 6 Assists Lamar Peters 6
Brandon Rachal 9 Rebounds Aric Holman 12
Brandon Sampson 3 Free Throws Made Abdul Ado 3
Brandon Rachal 4 Steals Quinndary Weatherspoon 3
Daryl Edwards 1 Blocks Aric Holman 4
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Points FG% 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Assists Rebounds Blocks Steals Turnovers
Louisiana State 77 46.0 11-31 8-14 14 26 1 11 11
Mississippi State 80 58.3 10-17 14-23 17 28 8 5 16