Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Bulldogs win
Mississippi State’s Lamar Peters (above, right) drives around Florida’s Andrew Nembhard during the No. 24 Bulldogs’ victory over the Gators on Tuesday night.
STARKVILLE, Miss. — Quinndary Weatherspoon converted a three-point play with 3.4 seconds left to lift No. 24 Mississippi State over Florida 71-68 on Tuesday night.
Weatherspoon drove the lane and was fouled by Kevarrius Hayes while sinking the winning layup. Weatherspoon finished with nine points.
Lamar Peters scored all 16 of his points in the first half, and Tyson Carter added 12 for Mississippi State (13-3, 1-2 SEC).
KeVaughn Allen (North Little Rock) had 17 points for Florida (9-7, 1-3), and Andrew Nembhard had 13 points. Noah Locke had 12 points for the Gators, who had won eight consecutive against Mississippi State.
The Bulldogs led 36-34 at halftime and the teams played close throughout the second half. Allen’s three-pointer with 2:55 remaining put the Gators ahead 66-61, but Aric Holman answered with a three on the next possession, and Weatherspoon tied it at 6666 with a layup with 1:27 left.
Holman and Locke exchanged baskets in the final 24 seconds before Weatherspoon won it with his threepoint play.
The Gators have dropped three of their first four SEC games with their only victory at Arkansas. The road doesn’t get easier with a road trip to Georgia this weekend.
After losing two closes games to open SEC play, the Bulldogs finally closed out a game thanks to Weatherspoon’s heroics.
NO. 4 VIRGINIA 81, NO. 9 VIRGINIA TECH 59
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — De’Andre Hunter scored 21 points and Ty Jerome had 14 and a career-high 12 assists as No. 4 Virginia started fast and routed No. 9 Virginia Tech.
Kyle Guy added 15 points for the Cavaliers (16-0, 4-0 Atlantic Coast Conference), who never trailed in the first meeting of the programs in which both were ranked in the top 10. Virginia also remained one of two unbeaten teams in the country along with Michigan, which was idle.
Nickeil Alexander-Walker scored 19 points and Ahmed Hill 14 to lead Virginia Tech (14-2, 3-1).
Virginia could hardly miss in the first half, making 10 of 14 three-point tries, including one by Kihei Clark at the buzzer to make it 44-22. The Hokies, meanwhile, were just 2 for 9 from deep and shot 35 percent (7-for-20) from the field compared to 68 percent (17-for-25) for the Cavaliers in the half.
Virginia finished 13 for 23 from threepoint range and shot 58.5 percent overall (31-for-53).
NO. 12 KENTUCKY 69, GEORGIA 49
ATHENS, Ga. — Ashton Hagans silenced a hostile crowd by scoring a season-high 23 points, leading No. 12 Kentucky over Georgia.
The Wildcats (13-3, 3-1 SEC) pulled away in the second half for their third consecutive victory.
Hagans reached double figures for the fifth game in a row, eclipsing the 18 points he scored a week ago against Texas A&M. He also had 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals.
Georgia (9-7, 1-3) led by five in the opening minutes before going into halftime down 35-31.
Hagans took control after halftime. He knocked down a three-pointer just ahead of the shot-clock buzzer, darted into the lane to lay one in, and scored off a steal by Tyler Herro to suddenly push the lead into double figures, 42-31.
Kentucky steadily pulled away from there.
Nicolas Claxton led Georgia with 12 points.
NO. 16 BUFFALO 88, WESTERN MICHIGAN 79
KALAMAZOO, Mich. — Jeremy Harris had 22 points and 11 rebounds, and No. 16 Buffalo held off upset-minded Western Michigan.
Nick Perkins added 14 points for the Bulls (16-1, 4-0 Mid-American Conference), who trailed by 11 in the first half and struggled to shake free of Western Michigan until the very end. Buffalo had won its first three MAC games by a combined 70 points.
The Bulls led by just four toward the end of this one, but star guard CJ Massinburg — who had been scoreless in the second half — connected from three-point range to make it 86-79 with under 90 seconds remaining.
The Broncos (6-11, 0-4) went on a 15-0 run in the first half and led 33-22, but Buffalo rebounded quickly and led 43-39 at halftime.
Josh Davis scored 24 points for Western Michigan.