Starkville, Miss.

Iverson Molinar scored 20 points and Garrison Brooks scored a season-high 18 points and Mississippi State beat South Carolina 78-64 on Tuesday night to end a two-game losing streak.

South Carolina saw its three-game winning streak come to an end. During the streak, the Gamecocks used a 24-0, 22-4, 22-5 second-half streak to pick up wins.

The State of Mississippi made sure that wouldn’t happen. The Bulldogs held South Carolina 3-for-11 shooting from beyond 3-point range after halftime and 5-for-18 overall.

James Reese V’s field goal with 15:42 took the Gamecocks to 10-9 and from there Mississippi State (14-7, 5-3 Southeastern Conference) took control.

Brooks followed with a layup, DJ Jeffries made a pair of foul shots, Molinar followed with a layup and the Bulldogs were on their way to a 13-0 run in four and a half minutes.

Brooks’ 3-pointer with 42 seconds before halftime gave Mississippi State its biggest first-half lead at 43-20 and it went to the break 45-23.

Brooks finished with 17 points before intermission on 8-for-11 shooting and Mississippi State as a unit shot 60 percent (18-for-30) with all of their points coming from inside the arc .

Mississippi State extended its lead to 75-48 with 5:25 to go before South Carolina went on a 13-0 run to reduce its deficit.

Reese scored 15 on 7-for-9 shooting and Devin Carter 10 for South Carolina.

Mississippi State, which has never trailed, has won seven of the last nine against the Gamecocks, including four in a row at home.

The Gamecocks (13-8, 4-5) host No. 22-ranked Tennessee on Saturday, while Mississippi State travels to Fayetteville, Arkansas to face the Razorbacks on Saturday.

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