March 5, 2011

Final Stats | Photo Gallery

STARKVILLE, Miss. (AP) – South Carolina suffered a 60-58 loss at Mississippi State on Saturday in the regular season finale for both schools.

Freshman point guard Bruce Ellington scored 15 points, while junior forward Malik Cooke added 13. Senior forward Sam Muldrow posted 10 points and a team-high seven rebounds in the loss.

Ravern Johnson tallied 21 points, hitting seven 3’s in the contest to pace the Bulldogs. Renardo Sidney added 13 points and 12 rebounds, and Kodi Augustus tallied 15 points and 10 rebounds.

Mississippi State (17-13, 9-7 SEC) led 53-40 with 5:30 remaining, but South Carolina (14-15, 5-11) went on a 16-6 run to cut the lead to 59-56 with 25.6 seconds remaining.

Then Mississippi State coach Rick Stansbury was called for an ill-timed technical foul while trying to call a timeout, and Cooke made two free throws to pull the Gamecocks within 59-58.

South Carolina missed a shot at the buzzer, as MSU collected the win.

The Associated Press contributed to this report