STARKVILLE, Miss. (AP) -Ravern Johnson had 15 points and Jarvis Varnado added 11 rebounds and seven blocks to lead Mississippi State to a 77-55 victory over Centenary on Saturday.
The Bulldogs (1-0) advance to 9-2 in season openers under head coach Rick Stansbury.
Mississippi State has beaten Centenary in all six meetings, the last coming in 1999, by an average of 20.8 points.
Centenary (0-1) hit 7-of-13 3-pointers in the second half, but finished with only a 30.8 field goal percentage for the game.
Barry Stewart chipped in 13 points and for MSU, and Elgin Bailey had 10 more.
The Bulldogs opened the game with a 7-0 run, and cruised to a 34-20 lead by halftime.
Mississippi State extended its lead to 20 in the early minutes of the second half, and a 12-5 run in the final six minutes opened the lead up even more, up to 29 at one point.
