No. 18 Mississippi St cruises past Austin Peay 95-67

STARKVILLE, Miss. (AP) Quinndary Weatherspoon scored 21 points, Nick Weatherspoon added 19 and No. 18 Mississippi State beat Austin Peay 95-67 in its season opener Friday night.

Quinndary Weatherspoon shot 10 of 15 from the field during the first game of his senior season and also grabbed five rebounds. He's been the Bulldogs' best all-around player the past three years and now has 1,404 career points, which is 16th in school history.

Tyson Carter scored 12 points and Abdul Ado added 11. Aric Holman had 10 points and 10 rebounds. Mississippi State shot nearly 58 percent from the field.

Austin Peay was competitive for most of the night and pulled to 60-50 after a 3-pointer with 13:59 left. But the Bulldogs responded with an 11-3 run to put the game away.

Mississippi State (1-0) never trailed, jumping out to a 22-13 lead after nine minutes. The Bulldogs pulled ahead 50-34 by halftime thanks to 56 percent shooting from the field. Quinndary Weatherspoon led all scorers with 13 points in the first half on 6-of-9 shooting.

Austin Peay (1-1) was led by Steve Harris, who had 17 points. Terry Taylor added 15.

BIG PICTURE

Austin Peay: The Governors lost their sixth straight game against a Southeastern Conference foe, but didn't have a bad effort. Austin Peay and second-year coach Matt Figger are trying to improve on last season's 19-15 record, including a 12-6 mark in the Ohio Valley Conference.

Mississippi State: It was a good opening game for the Bulldogs, who were in command the entire night. Two of the team's prized freshman, Reggie Perry and Robert Woodard II, had solid debuts. Woodard had eight points and five rebounds. Perry added five points.

UP NEXT

Austin Peay travels to South Florida on Monday.

Mississippi State hosts Hartford on Sunday.

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