Williamson, Louisville beat Mississippi St. 72-58 in Bahamas

Updated Nov. 26, 2021 12:09 a.m. ET

Associated Press

NASSAU, Bahamas (AP) — Samuell Williamson scored a season-high 15 points, Dre Davis scored 12 and Louisville cruised to a 72-58 win over Mississippi State on Thursday night at the Baha Mar Hoops Bahamas Championship.

Jae’Lyn Wither added 11 points for Louisville (4-1) and Malik Williams finished with eight points and 10 rebounds.

The Cardinals play Maryland in Saturday's championship game.

Williamson scored 10 straight points for Louisville during a 21-5 run that made it 29-12 when Dre Davis made a layup to cap the spurt with 4:55 left in the first half. Davis added two free throws and a 3-pointer before Noah Locke made a jumper to give the Cardinals a 20-point lead with 3:21 left in the first half.

Iverson Molinar led Mississippi State (4-1) with 17 points and Tolu Smith scored 10.

Locke, who went into the game averaging a team-high 16.0 points this season and needing just three points to reach 1,000 in his career, finished with two points on 1-of-9 shooting. The senior transfer scored 933 points in three seasons at Florida.

The Bulldogs, went into the game shooting 52% from the field and 45.7% from 3-point range this season, made 20 of 60 from the field and just 1 of 15 from behind the arc.

Mississippi State plays Richmond in Saturday's consolation game.

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