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No. 20 Mississippi State gets by Alabama

Jan 15, 2012 - 1:02 AM Starkville, MS (Sports Network) - Brian Bryant was held without a field goal through the first 39-plus minutes of the game before scoring the final five points for Mississippi State, as the 20th-ranked Bulldogs beat Alabama, 56-52.

Arnett Moultrie posted a double-double of 25 points and 13 rebounds for Mississippi State (15-3, 2-1 SEC), which has won three of its last four games.

JaMychal Green was the lone Crimson Tide player to reach double figures in scoring, finishing with 14 points.

Alabama (13-4, 2-1) had won its last five games by an average of 18 points.

Down 48-45, Dee Bost nailed consecutive three-pointers to put the Bulldogs up 51-48 with 1:35 remaining.

"Dee Bost has done it his whole career, stepped up and made two big threes there at the end of the game that really helped his team," Alabama coach Anthony Grant said. "We had opportunities and I'm proud of the way our guys fought. It is an opportunity for us to learn from this. You have to understand this is life in the SEC."

After Green made two free throws, Bryant got a shot to fall with 10.6 seconds left. Trevor Lacey answered for Alabama to make it a one-point game, but Bryant was fouled on a layup after gathering a long inbounds pass. His free throw served as the exclamation point.

"We were trying to get the ball in to our best free throw shooter, Moultrie," Mississippi State coach Rick Stansbury. "If it was not there, we have to spread out and throw it down court. It just so happened that we did not just throw it, we actually got the ball to someone down court."

Mississippi State jumped out to a 12-4 lead before Alabama countered with an 11-2 surge. The Bulldogs scored the final six points of the opening half to take a 27-21 lead into the locker room.

The Bulldogs' advantage reached a game-high 10 points at 33-23 early in the second half, but Alabama rallied to go up 46-42 on a Green dunk with 5:55 to play.

Game Notes

Bost finished with 17 points and four assists...Tony Mitchell had eight points and 10 rebounds for Alabama...The Bulldogs have won 11 of their last 14 games against the Crimson Tide at Humphrey Coliseum.