Alabama sinks No. 23 Mississippi State 62-57 with late free throws by Green, Brock

Alabama upsets No. 23 Mississippi State 62-57

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Anthony Brock and JaMychal Green each made two free throws in the final 18 seconds to lift Alabama to a 62-57 upset of No. 23 Mississippi State on Saturday.

The cold-shooting Bulldogs couldn’t get off a potential tying 3-pointer when Barry Stewart failed to handle a pass from Dee Bost and the ball went out of bounds.

Green grabbed the inbound pass and hit two free throws with 6.6 seconds left to preserve the win for the Crimson Tide (12-7, 2-3 SEC), which had dropped three straight games.

The Bulldogs (15-4, 3-1) had been living on the edge in a three-game win streak when the margin totaled 10 points. This time they shot a season-low 32 percent. The SEC’s top 3-point shooting team made just 2 of 18 — another season-worst — and missed its first 11 attempts.

Mikhail Torrance led Alabama with 20 points and five assists to rebound from a season-low three points against Tennessee. He made 4 of 8 3-pointers and scored eight points in the first two minutes.

Green had 18 points, nine rebounds and three blocked shots for Alabama.

Alabama didn’t shoot much better than the Bulldogs, hitting just 35 percent from the field. But the Tide seemed to grab most of the loose balls and long rebounds, and Tony Mitchell and Senario Hillman combined for 21 boards while both posting career highs.

Stewart led Mississippi State with 13 points. Bost had 10 points and eight boards while Ravern Johnson also scored 10. Jarvis Varnado moved past Colgate’s Adonyal Foyle into second place on the NCAA’s career blocked shots list, and is 41 shy of the record of 535 held by Louisiana-Monroe’s Wojciech Myrda.

Varnado had nine points, eight rebounds and four blocks before fouling out.

Mississippi State wiped out a 12-point deficit midway through the second half, scoring 14 straight to take a 48-46 lead on Stewart’s 3-pointer. He and Phil Turner both made 3s during that stretch, but a team that came in making nearly 10 a game was otherwise cold.

Alabama pushed its advantage back to seven on Torrance’s 3-pointer to cap a 10-1 surge. The Bulldogs came back one more time.

Turner’s follow-up shot off a missed 3 cut Alabama’s lead to 58-57 with 22 seconds left. After a quick foul, Brock made it a three-point game again.

Both teams endured dismal shooting stretches, especially in the first half.

The Bulldogs opened the game 2-of-16 shooting, helping Alabama build an 11-point lead. Then the Tide scored just three points and made just one of their last 13 shots over the final 7:40. Bost scored on a pullup jumper with 2 seconds left to cut Alabama’s halftime lead to 27-26.