Mississippi St. jumps out early, beats South Carolina 69-48

STARKVILLE, Miss. (AP) — D.J. Stewart Jr. scored 15 points, Abdul Ado had 11 and Mississippi State jumped out early and cruised to a 69-48 victory over South Carolina on Wednesday night.
 
Tolu Smith added nine points and 13 rebounds for Mississippi State (13-11, 7-8 Southeastern Conference). Iverson Molinar also chipped in nine points. Stewart added five assists and Ado had eight rebounds and three blocks.
 
Keyshawn Bryant scored 14 points for South Carolina (5-12, 3-10), which has lost six straight. AJ Lawson had 10 points. The duo entered averaging a combined 35.5 points per SEC game, which is the third-ranked tandem in league play.
 
Mississippi State opened on a 21-7 run and led 38-23 at the break. Stewart had 12 points and five assists in the half, and the Bulldogs made all 11 of its free throws.
 
South Carolina cut the deficit to 12 points early in the second half but didn’t get closer. The Gamecocks shot 18 of 62 (29%) overall from the field. It was their lowest scoring output since a 75-59 loss to the Bulldogs on Feb. 6.
 
The Gamecocks last win at Humphrey Coliseum was during the 2017 SEC regular season.
 
South Carolina plays at Georgia on Saturday. Mississippi State, which has won consecutive games, hosts sixth-ranked Alabama on Saturday.

KEY STATS
> The Bulldogs out-rebounded the Gamecocks 49-24 and held a 38-20 points in the paint advantage.   

NOTABLES
> Junior guard AJ Lawson had 10 points, snapping a four-game streak scoring 20-plus. He made just one 3-pointer after coming in averaging 3.6 per contest in league play.  
> Junior Keyshawn Bryant led the team with 14 points off the bench, his 10^th game in double figures in 12 SEC contests.

UP NEXT
South Carolina remains on the road as it travels to Georgia (14-9, 7-9 SEC) on Saturday for the team’s final away game of the 2020-21 season. Tip time is set for 1 p.m. ET on the SEC Network.  

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