No. 4 Alabama wins shootout against No. 14 Mississippi State

Chris Youngblood scored a season-high 23 points on a career-best seven 3-pointers to help No. 4 Alabama squeeze out an 88-84 victory over No. 14 Mississippi State on Wednesday night in Starkville, Miss.

Mark Sears had 17 points and nine assists and Grant Nelson registered 15 points, seven rebounds and three blocked shots as the Crimson Tide (18-3, 7-1 Southeastern Conference) won for the 12th time in the past 13 games. Aden Holloway had 12 points for Alabama.

Josh Hubbard scored a career-best 38 points for the Bulldogs (16-5, 4-4), who lost for the fourth time in six games. All four losses came to teams ranked No. 6 or better.

Hubbard made six 3-pointers -- one shy of his career best -- in 15 attempts and was 14 of 28 overall from the field.

KeShawn Murphy added 18 points for Mississippi State, but he missed a late layup that would have put the Bulldogs in the lead.

The Crimson Tide have defeated the Bulldogs seven straight times and 10 of the past 11.

Nelson drained a wide-open corner 3-pointer to give the Crimson Tide an 83-80 lead with 2:30 left in the game.

Alabama led by one when Nelson went to the free-throw line with 24.5 seconds left and missed both free throws. Mouhamed Dioubate rebounded the miss for the Crimson Tide and was fouled, and he missed the front end of a one-and-one with 22.6 seconds left.

That presented the Bulldogs with the chance to take the lead, but Murphy couldn't connect on a layup attempt with just over 13 seconds left.

Youngblood made two free throws to give Alabama a three-point lead with 10.9 seconds to go.

Mississippi State's chance for a tying shot also came up empty as Riley Kugel's attempted handoff to Hubbard bounced off the latter and went out of bounds with 5.3 seconds left.

Nelson was fouled without time coming off the clock and split two free throws to seal it.

The Crimson Tide made 49.2 percent of their field-goal attempts, including 15 of 31 (48.4 percent) from 3-point range.

The Bulldogs shot 50 percent from the field and made 8 of 25 (32 percent) from behind the arc.

A jumper by Sears gave Alabama a 59-50 lead with 14:17 left in the contest before Hubbard scored 11 points during a 15-5 run for the Bulldogs.

Hubbard made two 3-pointers and a two-point jumper during the burst before converting a three-point play to end it and give Mississippi State a 65-64 lead with 10:14 remaining.

Hubbard later converted another three-point play to knot the score at 80 with 3:57 remaining.

The Crimson Tide led 44-39 at halftime. Hubbard scored 13 first-half points for Mississippi State, and Youngblood had 12 in the half for Alabama.

--Field Level Media