Mississippi St. Pulls Inside Job With Austin

The low post was crowded early. Mario Austin didn’t waste much time clearing it out for himself.

The 6-foot-9, 255-pound Austin scored 14 unanswered points during a seven-minute first-half stretch, rallying No. 3-seeded Mississippi State from an eight-point deficit to a 70-58 victory over McNeese State in the first round of the Midwest Regional at American Airlines Center.

Austin finished with 25 points and nine rebounds. McNeese State Coach Tic Price tried stopping Austin with an assortment of defenders, including 7-foot-1, 210-pound Raynell Brewer and 6-11, 288-pound Larry Jackson.

It didn’t matter. Austin made eight of 13 shots--all from inside the paint--despite being double and triple-teamed after 6-9 teammate Michal Ignerski left the game with an injured right thumb midway in the first half. Ignerski, the team’s second-leading scorer, is questionable for Sunday’s second-round game against Texas--a 70-57 winner over Boston College Friday.

“The biggest problem about Austin was that he showed up for the game,” Price said. “I was hoping the bus driver would take him to another facility.”

Said Austin: “All I wanted to do was make their big men run. I knew as long as I was running [my teammates] would find me because their big men couldn’t run with me.”

Mississippi State (27-7) struggled early to recapture the momentum of last week’s Southeastern Conference tournament championship run. The Bulldogs trailed 21-13 nine minutes into the game, but used a 12-0 run to take a 31-25 lead at halftime.

Southland Conference champion McNeese State (21-9) fell behind by as many as 19 points in the second half and finished with a season-low point total.

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Texas 70, Boston College 57--Freshman point guard T.J. Ford, who led the nation in assists at 8.5 per game, showed another dimension in leading the Longhorns (21-11) with 20 points.

Ford, who also had seven assists, got the Longhorn offense going early, setting up fastbreak layups and three-pointers while pulling up for several jumpers that resulted in baskets and helped Texas take a 22-point lead three minutes before halftime.

Boston College point guard Troy Bell, who broke out of a four-game scoring slump with 27 points, led a rally that cut Texas’ lead to five with 12:48.

But Ford scored five consecutive points and the Longhorns maintained a double-digit lead the rest of the game.

“We went a while without scoring and I knew I had to do something for my teammates,” Ford said. “I just started attacking the defense.”

Boston College (20-12) made its earliest exit from the NCAA tournament in its last 10 trips.