TUPELO, Mississippi – Mississippi State, the 25^th-ranked team in the country, outscored McNeese 16-8 in the final eight minutes of play as the Bulldogs escaped Tupelo with a 66-63 win over the Cowboys here Saturday night.
 
McNeese (5-5) led 55-50 after a Sincere Parker layup at the 8-minute mark. State (9-1) followed with five straight points before Parker sank a 3-pointer to give McNeese a 58-55 lead with 5:33 to play.
 
The Bulldogs followed with 9-0 run to go up 64-58 with 2:13 remaining. Five of those nine points were scored from the free throw line where Mississippi State hit 23 of 33 on the night compared to the Cowboys' 10 of 17 shooting.
 
Parker, who finished with 16 points, sank his second of two 3s to pull McNeese to within 64-61 with 1:58 on the clock. State then missed shots on consecutive possessions giving the Cowboys the ball back with under a minute to play with a chance to tie. That opportunity hit off the back rim on a Christian Shumate three-point attempt with 44 seconds to play.
 
State then missed on another attempt but the Cowboys would be unable to hold onto the rebound and the Bulldogs regained possession then hit two free throws to go up by 5 at 66-61 with nine seconds to play. A tip-in by Brandon Murray at the buzzer closed the final gap to three points.
 
Joe Charles scored a season-high 19 points for the Cowboys, hitting three 3-pointers in the process. But the Bulldogs shut Charles out of the scoring department the final 12:30 of the game after he hit his final 3.
 
Murray added 10 points and nine rebounds along with four assists while Javohn Garcia scored 10 points.
 
RJ Melendez led the Bulldogs with 18 points to join Hubbard as the only double-figure scorers.
 
McNeese shot 41.5 percent from the field (22-53) and 41 percent from 3-point range (9-22). State was held to 36.5 percent from the field (19-52), the second-lowest total of the season, and was 5-18 for 28 percent from behind the arc.
 
The teams battled to a 29-29 halftime tie. McNeese held the Bulldogs off the board for the first three minutes and led for all but 1:29 of the half. The Cowboys built their biggest lead at 24-16 following a 9-3 run that took up 4:18 and saw Murray score five of those nine points.
 
State followed that with a 13-3 run and grabbed its first lead since early in the game after Hubbard drained back-to-back 3s to put his team up 29-27 with 39 seconds to play. Garcia tied the game with a layup with eight seconds remaining.
 
Next up for the Cowboys will be a visit to Louisiana-Lafayette next Sunday at 2 p.m.