Second half goes bad for Bulldogs

By By Danny P. Smith / special to the Star
Jan. 8, 2003
STARKVILLE The Mississippi State Bulldogs had the Florida Gators right where they wanted them in the first half Tuesday night.
Unfortunately for Mississippi State, basketball is a sport made up of two halves.
After holding a 35-29 lead at halftime, the Bulldogs were outscored by the Gators 45-31 in the second half and lost 74-66 at Humphrey Coliseum. A crowd of 10,541, the second largest in Mississippi State history, looked on as the seventh-ranked Bulldogs fell to 10-2, while No. 11 Florida improved to 12-2. It was the Southeastern Conference opener for both teams.
The Gators used a 15-2 run to start the second half to overcome the halftime deficit and took a 44-37 lead over the Bulldogs with 16:20 left in the game.
Florida came out to score the first six points of the second half to tie the game 35-35 at the 18:52 mark and the Bulldogs did not score a field goal until the 15-minute mark on a followup dunk by Zimmerman on a miss by Mario Austin.
The Gators continued to turn up the heat in the second half and took their largest lead of 66-56 with 4:08 left in the game on a jumper by Matt Bonner.
Austin achieved his ninth career double-double with 22 points and 16 rebounds. The rebound total was a career high for Austin.
It was not enough for Austin to keep his team from losing.
Also scoring in double figures for the Bulldogs was Timmy Bowers with 14 points.
For Florida, Justin Hamilton scored 22 points, while Bonner added 16 points.
Mississippi State will try to bounce back on the road Saturday at LSU.