ESPN Men's Basketball

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Craig Sword and Fred Thomas scored 14 points each to lead Mississippi State to a 60-42 victory over Alcorn State on Tuesday night.

Mississippi State (2-4) shot 40 percent from the field (18 of 45) and hit 22 of 33 free throws, shaking off a 0-3 effort at the Maui Invitational last week.

Alcorn State (2-5) struggled to hit 15 of 51 shots from the field (29.4 percent).

Sword finished 4-of-8 from the field and hit 5 of 9 free throws to go with five steals.

Thomas was 0 of 4 from 3-point range, but finished 5 of 12 from the field.

As a team, Mississippi State was 2 of 13 from beyond the arc.

Roquez Johnson added 13 points for the Bulldogs. Gavin Ware had 12 rebounds and seven points in his first career start.

Anthony Evans led Alcorn State with 12 points and LeAntwan Luckett added 11 points.

Mississippi State opened the game on a 13-2 run and led 37-21 at halftime. The Bulldogs dominated the second half and trailed only once on the opening bucket of the game.