Carter's 35 points help Mississippi St. beat N. Dakota St.

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Tyson Carter scored a career-high 35 points as Mississippi State remained unbeaten and defeated North Dakota State 83-59 on Thursday night.

Carter, who was 12 of 17 from the field and made 6 of 10 shots beyond the arc, had the most points by a Mississippi State player since Darryl Wilson scored 35 in 1995.

"I've just been in the gym and kept working on my shot so I could keep it consistent," said Carter. "I was feeling it tonight but I didn't realize how many I had and I didn't notice. Lately, my shots have been going in early. When my first shot went in, I knew I was in for a big night."

The Bulldogs (6-0) shot 52 percent (31 of 60) from the field, including 10 of 23 from 3-point range.

Aric Holman and Nick Weatherspoon each scored 12 points for Mississippi State while Holman added nine rebounds. Quinndary Weatherspoon finished with nine points and a career-best 10 assists for the Bulldogs.

North Dakota State (3-4) was led by Paul Miller's 19 points and AJ Jacobson added 15.

"That was a very good win for us tonight against a team that will win a lot of games this year," said Mississippi State coach Ben Howland. "I was very concerned going into it in terms of preparation because North Dakota State is so patient on offense. But our defense has been tremendous these last three or four games. That's why we're winning games and our guys are doing a good job of focusing and taking away a team's strength.

"And obviously, Tyson Carter really loosened things up for us. I was proud of our team for finding him. They knew he had it going and they were finding him."

Mississippi State opened the second half on a 13-0 run and led by as many as 27 points in the second half. The Bulldogs shot 65.5 percent from the field after the break.

Carter scored 16 points in the first half for Mississippi State, which built a 29-14 lead before the Bison closed the half on a 10-0 run and trailed just 29-24 at the break.

In that first half, North Dakota State shot just 33.3 percent and the Bulldogs were not much better at 38.7 percent.

BIG PICTURE

Mississippi State: The Bulldogs are off to their best start since winning 13 in a row to open the 2003-04 season.

North Dakota State: Last week the Bison averaged 87 points in wins over Florida A&M and Stetson. But the past two games -- both losses -- have not been a pretty picture on the offensive end. On Tuesday North Dakota State scored just 50 points in a loss at Stephen F. Austin and followed that with a 59-point showing against Mississippi State on Thursday.

UP NEXT

Mississippi State continues its eight-game home stand to open the season and will host Dayton on Sunday.

North Dakota State returns home on Monday and will host Missouri State.