Smith’s double-double leads Mississippi St. past Missouri

STARKVILLE, Miss. (AP) — Tolu Smith scored 25 points and collected 12 rebounds and Mississippi State won its third straight, beating Missouri 63-52 on Saturday night.

The effort marked Smith’s 10th-career double-double. The only active player in the SEC with more career double-doubles is Oscar Tshiebewe of Kentucky with 25. Smith finished 8-for-12 shooting and made 9 of 12 at the foul line.

D.J. Jeffries, Cameron Matthews and reserve Tyler Stevenson each scored 10 points for the Bulldogs (15-8, 3-7), who never trailed.

Backup Deandre Gholston scored 12 for Missouri (17-6, 5-5) which scored a season low and saw its three-game win streak come to an end. Dmoi Hodge scored 11 and Kobe Brown 10.

The Tigers shot 16 of 50 including 6 for 23 from (26%) 3-point range. Missouri entered shooting 43% at home but just 20% on the road.

Missouri used a 10-0 run established by a pair Brown layups wrapped around a pair of 3s by Nick Honor to reduce the Tigers’ deficit to 45-41 with 10:38 left. But Mississippi State countered and went on to outscore the Tigers 15-2 over close to the next seven minutes to seal it.

Mississippi State has won seven straight since 2018-19 and 12 of the last 13 meetings in the series dating to 2014-15. Overall, the Bulldogs have a 13-5 series advantage, winning eight of nine meetings in Starkville.

Missouri hosts South Carolina on Tuesday. Mississippi State hosts LSU on Wednesday.

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