Borchert gives Bulldogs boost during home win

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Mississippi State forward Colin Borchert (3) goes up for a shot against New Orleans Thursday night. (Photo by Kim Murrell, SDN)

Colin Borchert got the best of a former teammate on Thursday night.

The Mississippi State forward and New Orleans guard Tradarrius McPhearson are transfers from East Mississippi Community College and they opposed each other on the basketball court.

Borchert scored a career-high 17 points to help MSU to a 97-46 victory over the Privateers at Humphrey Coliseum.

It was a matter of Borchert and the Bulldogs playing better than they did in last Sunday's 59-57 loss to Alabama A&M.

MSU coach Rick Ray called the Alabama A&M game "an embarrassing loss" and Borchert knew he had to contribute more points than the eight he had that day.

"We were just finishing the ball," Borchert said. "Coach has been talking about for a while about finishing easy layups and we've been doing it practice. We've been taking out the pads, getting a little contact and just mainly finishing the ball, (and) putting it in the rim."

Borchert's previous career-high for the Bulldogs was the 11 points scored against Central Arkansas on Dec. 22.

Borchert experienced some adversity in the second half against New Orleans. He was hit in the mouth and had to come out for a short time, then he was hit with a technical foul after a flagrant one foul.

Despite those incidents, Borchert still managed a career-high in points.

"Sometimes it's good to get hit in the mouth and see a little blood," Ray said with a grin. "Colin played well and he's a good basketball player. He's able to see things in our motion where he can cut and screen, but the reason he's beginning to see more minutes is because of the strides he's making on defense."

Borchert had five steals, three blocks and eight rebounds for MSU.

McPhearson played a team-high 28 minutes for New Orleans, but was only able to score six points.

Sitting court side watching his two former players was EMCC assistant coach Billy Begley.

"I was good seeing their hard work pay off," Begley said. "They are out there playing well and playing hard. They are realizing a dream a little bit to play Division I basketball. It was good to see (Borchert) get back into a groove on offense and get some confidence to play."