Alabama Falls to Mississippi St. 71-58
3/4/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
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STARKVILLE, Miss. (AP) - Jamont Gordon scored 17 points, Charles Rhodes added 16 and Mississippi State beat Alabama 71-58 on Saturday.
The Bulldogs (15-14, 5-11 Southeastern Conference) won their fourth straight home game, clinched the West's No. 4 seed in the upcoming league tournament and beat 'Bama for the first time since 2004.
The Crimson Tide (17-11, 10-6), which entered having clinched the West's No. 2 seed, only briefly led in the first half. Mississippi State was up 37-29 at halftime and never trailed in the second half.
Alabama tied it at 39-all on Jermareo Davidson's basket with 15:56 to play. But Richard Delk hit a 3-pointer 18 seconds later to start a 15-5 run which pushed the Bulldogs' lead into double figures.
Piotr Stelmach's 3 with 10:20 left - his second during the spurt - gave Mississippi State a 54-44 lead. Alabama didn't get closer than five the rest of the way.
Reginald Delk finished with 10 points for the Bulldogs. Gordon added eight assists and Rhodes was 8-of-12 shooting.
Davidson had 17 points and 11 rebounds for the Crimson Tide, which had its two-game winning streak snapped. Alonzo Gee added 15 points and Richard Hendrix finished with 12.
Mississippi State, which entered as the SEC's worst team from behind the arc, made 9-of-20 attempts from 3-point range. The Bulldogs shot nearly 48 percent and held Alabama to just 4-of-14 shooting from 3.
Mississippi State essentially was missing two key guards. Dietric Slater, who tore a knee ligament three days earlier in a loss at Arkansas, didn't play while senior Jamall Edmondson, who is battling pneumonia and a groin injury, played only the final 27 seconds of his last regular-season game at Humphrey Coliseum.
