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Box Score | Quotes | Notes

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Foundation

Scott Drew played the percentages and lost.

Facing a Mississippi State team that was ranked last in the SEC and 335th in the country (out of 351 Division I teams) in 3-point field goal percentage (31.2), it seemed like a safe bet for the Baylor defense to focus more on shots inside the arc.

Instead, the visiting Bulldogs (24-11) shot a sizzling 59 percent from 3-point range (13-of-22), and Quinndary Weatherspon nailed a buzzer-beating trey to end the Bears' season in shocking fashion, 78-77, Sunday afternoon in an NIT second-round game at the Ferrell Center.

Manu Lecomte hit a bank-shot runner to give Baylor a two-point lead with 5.1 seconds left, but Weatherspoon's shot over King McClure hit the front end of the rim, bounced straight up and then softly through the net for a true "March Madness" moment.

I don't think I've ever seen a shot go straight up and straight down before, but that's what happened," said Drew, whose team finished 19-15, ending a string of six straight 20-win seasons.

"Disappointed, obviously, for our seniors in a game where you think you just won it on a last-second shot and then your season's over."

The fact that it even came down to a pair of last-second shots is amazing considering the Bears found themselves down by 20 in the first half and were still trailing 47-33 at the break.

Led by the red-hot shooting of Tyson Carter, Xavian Stapleton and Lamar Peters, Mississippi State was 8-of-13 from 3-point range and turned it over just three times in the first two quarters.

"I can't remember the last time we scored 47 in a half. It's been a while," MSU coach Ben Howland said. "That's a lot of points against a very good zone like Baylor."

After some struggles in morning tip times in the past, Drew decided to change things up and have an early shoot-around, "but that didn't work either," he said.

Offense wasn't really the issue, though. Baylor shot 50 percent in the first half and 50.8 percent for the game, hitting 31-of-61 shots. It ultimately came down to the Bears' inability to defend the Bulldogs' steady barrage of 3's.

"When we take good shots, we're a good 3-point shooting team," Howland said, although the stats say otherwise. "I give a lot of credit to Lamar. When those 3's are going good for us, he's really doing a good job distributing the ball and penetrating and kicking out."

Mississippi State answered an 8-1 Baylor run at the start of the second half with seven unanswered points and still led by 14 with 4 ½ minutes left in the third quarter. But, Terry Maston hit three buckets and 7-foot senior center Jo Lual-Acuil capped off a 17-2 run with a dunk off a miss by Lecomte to give the Bears their first lead, 58-57.

"I think we just didn't give up," said Maston, who scored 20 of his game-high 26 points in the second half, finishing 13-of-19 from the field. "We knew that a lot was at stake, obviously the whole season. And we had worked so hard this season to fight back how we did in conference, starting 2-7. It kind of propelled us to go out and try to get this game and prolong the season.

"We did a great job fighting back. Obviously, it wasn't the result we wanted in the end, but I think we still did a great job not giving up."

The Bears extended the lead with another Lual-Acuil dunk and a Maston layup off a feed from McClure and went up by nine, 71-62, on a 3-pointer by Nuni Omot with 4:40 left in the game.

"I don't understand why Maston's not starting," Howland said. "He's so good. I was reading all about him and how he's only started two games in his career, which is incredible for a guy that talented. He really caused us problems."

Baylor had two straight empty possessions with a chance to go up by double digits, then gave up a three-point play to Aric Holman, had a turnover against the press that led to a Holman dunk, followed by the first of Weatherspoon's two clutch 3-pointers to make it a one-point game, 71-70.

The teams traded blows over the last 1 ½ minutes, with Mississippi State answering a pair of Maston jumpers with a Holman layup and a game-tying 3-pointer from the corner by Carter. Coming in with a team-high 51 3-pointers made, Carter was 5-of-6 from outside the arc and led the Bulldogs with 19 points.

"We had been in situations like this before where we came back, so we just know not to give up and keep fighting and put together some stops, and we'll have a chance to win," Carter said.

True to his word, the Bulldogs had that chance at the end of the game.

Weatherspoon, who finished with 13 points and five assists, credited Peters for penetrating and finding him on the wing for his 10th assist of the game.

"I shot it with confidence, and it ended up falling," he said. "I thought I shot it (too) hard. It was short, and I was able to get the shooter's roll. They have soft rims, so I appreciate that."

Mississippi State advances to the NIT quarterfinals and will travel to face either second-seeded Louisville or third-seeded Middle Tennessee on Tuesday for a trip to the Final Four at Madison Square Gardens in New York.

Baylor loses the four seniors that all scored in double figures for the second straight game. Lual-Acuil had 17 points and a team-high eight rebounds, while Lecomte had 15 points, seven assists and only three turnovers and Omot chipped in with 11 points and two 3-pointers.

"It hit home a little bit in the locker room," Maston said. "Once I took off the jersey, I was like, `Man, four years!' It went by really fast, but I had a lot of great memories. I grew a lot as a person, mentally and physically, and I just thank God for the opportunity I had here at Baylor."