Mississippi State men's basketball takes down Richmond, splits Bahamas games
Nov. 27—Mississippi State men's basketball fended off a scare to close out its trip to the Baha Mar Hoops Bahamas Championship, taking down Richmond 82-71 in overtime.
MSU led by as much as 12 in the game and had a 66-58 lead with 2:46 to go. But eight unanswered points by Richmond to close out the second half sent the game into overtime.
In the extra period, transfer guard Shakeel Moore led the way for State.
Moore scored seven on his eight points in overtime highlighted by his lone triple stretching MSU's lead to nine with just over a minute to go.
MSU was paced by forward Tolu Smith who scored 22 points on 10-of-11 shooting in his second game returning from an offseason foot procedure.
Smith, who led the SEC in rebounds last season, had his first double-double of the season with 11 rebounds.
Richmond's Tyler Burton was the game's leading scorer with 23 points on 9-of-16 shooting to go along with seven boards.
Dji Bailey contributed 10 points off the bench for Richmond.
State returns home after splitting its games in the Bahamas. MSU lost to Maryland to open play on Thanksgiving.
MSU plays Lamar at 7 p.m. Thursday.
