Mississippi State 78, Florida A&M 65: Craig Sword tallied 16 points and Andre Applewhite supplied career highs with 14 points, 11 rebounds and three steals as the Bulldogs took down the visiting Rattlers.

Sword was just 3-of-6 from the field, but hit 10-of-12 from the foul line for the Bulldogs (7-2), who have won all three meetings with the Rattlers. Colin Borchert recorded 10 points, six rebounds and three blocks and Trivante Bloodman added 10 points off the bench for Mississippi State.

D'Andre Bullard notched 14 points and four assists to lead the Rattlers (2-8). Jamie Adams, the team's leading-scorer, was 2-of-9 from the field and finished with six points to go with five rebounds, and Jomari Bradshaw had nine points and seven boards.

Behind the play of Adams and Bullard, the Rattlers were able to hang around for the first 10 minutes before Sword came alive for the Bulldogs, who never trailed. Sword scored 12 points in the final eight minutes of the half as the Bulldogs stretched the lead from five to 15 going to halftime.

Mississippi State held the Rattlers scoreless for the first 5:24 of the second half in building a 51-27 advantage and never led by fewer than 13 points the rest of the way. Roquez Johnson, who left the Bulldogs' last game with a knee injury, played just four minutes and had no points and two rebounds.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Sword matched his season average of 15 points in the first half. ... The Bulldogs finished 33-of-45 from the foul line compared to 7-of-12 for the Rattlers. ... Florida A&M shot 34.2 percent from the field.