National Basketball Association
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Mississippi State 58, Marquette 55
When: 8:30 PM ET, Monday, November 21, 2022
Where: Suncoast Credit Union Arena, Fort Myers, Florida
Officials: # K.B. Burdett, # Courtney Green, # Brian Dorsey
Attendance: 1894

Eric Reed Jr. scored 15 points and Dashawn Davis added 12 to pace Mississippi State to a 58-55 victory over Marquette on Monday night in the semifinals of the Fort Myers Tip-Off tournament in Florida.

Mississippi State (5-0) advances to Wednesday night's title game against Utah, which held off Georgia Tech 68-64 in the first semifinal. Marquette (3-2) will face Georgia Tech in the third-place game.

Shakeel Moore scored on a layup to put the Bulldogs up 53-50 and Reed hit the second of two free throws to make it 54-50 with 29 seconds left.

Reed hit a pair of free throws with nine seconds remaining to make it 56-52, but Tyler Kolek answered with a 3-pointer to pull Marquette within 56-55 with three seconds left.

Davis hit two more free throws and Marquette missed a final half-court shot.

Tolu Smith pulled down 16 rebounds to help Mississippi State to a 42-30 advantage on the boards. The Bulldogs had a 15-5 edge in offensive rebounds for a 12-0 advantage in second-chance points. Mississippi State struggled at the free-throw line, though, making just 11 of 21.

Kolek finished with 16 points, making 4 of 6 shots from beyond the arc, and Kam Jones added 14 points.

Marquette, which trailed 23-17 after a cold-shooting first half, went in front 35-33 on a layup by Jones with 11:03 remaining. Davis later hit a 3-pointer to put the Bulldogs up 51-48 with 2:32 left.

Mississippi State led by just six at the half despite an eight-minute scoreless stretch from Marquette early in the first. Moore's 3-pointer gave the Bulldogs their biggest lead of the half at 20-10 with 4:10 remaining.

Neither team shot well in the first half. Marquette was 7 of 23, including 2 of 14 from beyond the arc. The Bulldogs were 9 of 27 and 4 of 10 from deep.

--Field Level Media

Top Game Performances
 
Marquette   Mississippi State
Tyler Kolek 16 Scoring Eric Reed Jr. 15
Oso Ighodaro 5 Assists Tolu Smith 6
Olivier-Maxence Prosper 9 Rebounds Tolu Smith 16
David Joplin 2 Free Throws Made Eric Reed Jr. 6
Olivier-Maxence Prosper 4 Steals Shakeel Moore 3
Oso Ighodaro 1 Blocks Will McNair Jr. 1
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Points FG% 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Assists Rebounds Blocks Steals Turnovers
Marquette 55 41.2 8-28 5-8 9 26 2 7 16
Mississippi State 58 36.4 7-16 11-21 13 40 1 11 16