Auburn remains winless in league play

Thursday, January 23, 2014

STARKVILLE, Miss. - Roquez Johnson scored 18 points, Colin Borchert added 17 and Mississippi State beat Auburn 82-74 on Wednesday night.

Mississippi State (13-5, 3-2) led by 10 points midway through the second half before Auburn rallied and Chris Denson’s layup cut it to 59-58 with 4:35 remaining.

But little-used Mississippi State reserve Tyson Cunningham scored the next five points, then took a charge on the other end to help the Bulldogs hold on for the victory.

Johnson made 4 of 7 shots from the field, but did most of his work at the free-throw line, hitting 10 of 16.

Auburn (8-8, 0-5) has lost five in a row. KT Harrell led the Tigers with 24 points and Tahj Shamsid-Deen added 17.

Mississippi State has beaten Auburn 13 out of the last 14 times at Humphrey Coliseum.

It’s been an agonizing three weeks of basketball for Auburn, which has lost all five of its SEC games.

The Tigers jumped out to an 8-0 lead and led for most of the first half.

MISSISSIPPI 63, VANDERBILT 52

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Jarvis Summers scored 16 points to lead Mississippi (13-5, 4-1), which nearly blew a 13-point lead in the second half before beating Vanderbilt (9-8, 1-4).

The Rebels have won three in a row overall and leave Memorial Gym with back-to-back victories in a place where they had won in only six of their first55 visits.

Vanderbilt couldn’t overcome the Rebels’ 44-40 edge on the boards and their 15-8 edge in second-chance points, and Ole Miss turned the Commodores’ 17 turnovers into 16 points.

Marshall Henderson, who was 1 of 8 in the first half, finished with 11 points for Ole Miss. Anthony Perez added 13 and Ladarius White 11.

Rod Odom scored a game-high 18 points for Vanderbilt. Damian Jones had 14.

The Rebels took a 29-20 lead into halftime.

GEORGIA 97, SOUTH CAROLINA 76

ATHENS, Ga. - Nemanja Djurisic shook a recent scoring slump with a career-high 22 points as Georgia (10-7, 4-1) beat South Carolina (7-11, 0-5), leaving the Gamecocks with their worst SEC start in 15 years.

Kenny Gaines had 14 points, Brandon Morris had 13 and Marcus Thornton had 12 for Georgia.

The Bulldogs have their best start in the league since the 2002-2003 season, when they also were 4-1.

South Carolina has lost its first five conference games for the first time since a 0-6 start in the 1998-99 season. The Gamecocks are 0-6 on the road.

Djurisic sank back-to-back three-pointers to cap an 11-0 run as Georgia pulled away early in the second half.

Djurisic, a junior forward, snapped a slump after managing a combined 11 points in his last three games.

Freshman Sindarius Thornwell led South Carolina with 26 points. Brenton Williams had 18.

WEDNESDAY’S SCORES

MEN

EAST American U. 86, Boston U. 56 Army 66, Colgate 63 Bucknell 70, Loyola (Md.) 60 Canisius 87, Niagara 74 Fordham 76, George Mason 70 Hofstra 77, William & Mary 60 Holy Cross 59, Lafayette 58 Lehigh 68, Navy 66, OT Northeastern 57, Towson 54 Saint Joseph’s 61, Rhode Island 57 Saint Louis 76, Duquesne 72 St. Bonaventure 66, La Salle 51 West Virginia 87, Texas Tech 81

SOUTH Campbell 65, Radford 63 Charleston Southern 78, Gardner-Webb 76 Coastal Carolina 84, Presbyterian 72 Coll. of Charleston 75, UNC Wilmington 70 Duke 67, Miami 46 Georgia 97, South Carolina 76 Longwood 69, Liberty 66 Louisville 86, South Florida 47 MVSU 72, Southern U. 64 Mississippi 63, Vanderbilt 52 Mississippi St. 82, Auburn 74 NC Central 84, NC A&T 44 Richmond 58, UMass 55 Tennessee 81, Arkansas 74 UNC Asheville 81, Winthrop 66 VMI 82, High Point 80, OT Wake Forest 83, Virginia Tech 77

MIDWEST Akron 78, E. Michigan 68 Bowling Green 58, Ohio 56 Bradley 69, N. Iowa 65 Cleveland St. 74, Ill.-Chicago 64 Drake 57, S. Illinois 54 Green Bay 83, Oakland 69 Indiana St. 65, Loyola of Chicago 61 Miami (Ohio) 86, Cent. Michigan 80 Michigan 75, Iowa 67 Minnesota 81, Wisconsin 68 Toledo 77, N. Illinois 68 VCU 80, Dayton 66 Wichita St. 70, Illinois St. 55

SOUTHWEST Oklahoma 77, TCU 69

FAR WEST Wyoming 66, Air Force 59

WOMEN

EAST American U. 63, Boston U. 56 Army 62, Colgate 45 Bucknell 67, Loyola (Md.) 60 Dayton 81, UMass 67 DePaul 92, Georgetown 69 Navy 73, Lehigh 61 Penn St. 65, Indiana 52 Saint Joseph’s 75, George Washington 69 St. Bonaventure 63, Rhode Island 55 St. John’s 59, Villanova 52 UConn 83, Memphis 49

SOUTH Duquesne 77, VCU 65 East Carolina 53, Rice 47 Louisiana Tech 64, FAU 63 Middle Tennessee 60, UTSA 41 North Texas 66, FIU 59 Rutgers 69, UCF 48 Southern U. 76, MVSU 67 Tulane 78, Charlotte 76, OT UAB 80, Old Dominion 64 W. Kentucky 77, Louisiana-Monroe 73 MIDWEST Cent. Michigan 87, Kent St. 53 N. Dakota St. 83, Valley City St. 61 Oklahoma St. 64, Kansas 56 Richmond 67, Saint Louis 58 W. Michigan 86, Miami (Ohio) 75, OT

SOUTHWEST Baylor 71, Kansas St. 48 Troy 86, Texas-Arlington 62 UALR 77, Texas St. 70 UTEP 86, Southern Miss. 85, OT West Virginia 70, Texas Tech 51

FAR WEST Boise St. 74, New Mexico 60 Nevada 63, Fresno St. 60 San Diego St. 88, San Jose St. 65 UNLV 73, Utah St. 67 Wyoming 82, Air Force 47

Sports, Pages 18 on 01/23/2014