JACKSON (AP) — Quinndary Weatherspoon scored 16 points, Lamar Peters added 15 and Mississippi State beat Southern Miss 86-44 on Monday night.

Mississippi State (7-3) never trailed and had a comfortable lead for most of the night. The Bulldogs turned a reasonable game into a full-scale blowout early in the second half thanks to a 35-0 run that pushed their advantage to 76-29.

Mississippi State made a school-record 17 3-pointers and shot 58.6 percent from behind the arc.

Southern Miss (3-6) shot just 23.1 percent (15 of 65) from the field. Raheem Watts led the Golden Eagles with nine points.

Mississippi State jumped out to a 16-4 lead in the opening minutes and cruised to a 39-25 halftime advantage.

 

BIG PICTURE

 

Southern Miss: The Golden Eagles struggled to score consistently against the bigger Bulldogs. Southern Miss hasn’t won a game in nearly a month and this loss was particularly ugly.

Mississippi State: The Bulldogs’ young roster continues to show promise. Xavian Stapleton’s return from knee surgery — he scored eight points in 11 minutes on Monday — gives Mississippi State a deeper rotation.

UP NEXT

Southern Miss plays San Diego State in the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic on Thursday.

Mississippi State hosts Morehead State on Thursday.