Georgia tops Mississippi State in SEC Tournament

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — J.J. Frazier scored 28 points, and Georgia beat 11th-seeded Mississippi State 79-69 Thursday night at the Southeastern Conference tournament.

The sixth-seeded Bulldogs (18-12) won their fourth straight game in trying to make a final case for an NCAA Tournament berth, and they will play No. 3 seed South Carolina on Friday night in the quarterfinals.

Yante Maten added 20 points for Georgia, which swept both games against Mississippi State this season. Charles Mann had 12, and Kenny Gaines 10.

Mississippi State (14-17) wrapped up coach Ben Howland’s first season with its second loss in three games.

Craig Sword led Mississippi State with 19 points, Fred Thomas added 17 and I.J. Ready 13.

Georgia led 42-34 at halftime shaking off a bit of a slow start, then the Bulldogs had to hold off Mississippi State down the stretch.

Mississippi State led by as much as five, the last on a layup by Malik Newman with 7:59 left in the first half at 24-19. Georgia finally started hitting shots and went on a 12-0 run, and Mike Edwards’ jumper broke the fifth and final tie in putting Georgia ahead to stay at 26-24 with six minutes left. Frazier capped the spurt with a 3 putting Georgia up 31-24. Another 7-0 run gave Georgia a 40-29 lead on a Maten 3-pointer with 1:51 to go.

Georgia opened the second half outscoring Mississippi State 15-7, taking its biggest lead at 57-41 on a layup by Maten.

Mississippi State finally came back, using 10 straight points to get back within 68-64 on a 3-pointer by Thomas with 7:02 left. Mann finally scored on a layup after Georgia had missed eight straight shots, and Mississippi State couldn’t get closer than four as the Bulldogs missed 10 of their final 14 shots. Georgia wasn’t much better hitting only 2 of its final 13 shots, which kept Mississippi State around.