D.J. Stewart Jr. scored 16 points and Iverson Molinar added 15 as Mississippi State held off North Texas 69-63 on Friday night in Starkville, Miss.

Tolu Smith had 12 points and Jalen Johnson 10 as the Bulldogs won their second straight to improve to 2-2.

Rubin Jones scored 14, Zachary Simmons had 11 points and 12 rebounds, and Thomas Bell scored 11 and Javion Hamlet added 10 points to lead the Mean Green, who lost their second straight to fall to 1-2.

Stewart's basket started the second-half scoring and gave Mississippi State a 31-20 lead.

Simmons' 3-pointer and five points by Bell pulled North Texas within 33-28.

Molinar's basket pushed the lead to nine, but the Mean Green closed within four on a three-point play by Hamlet.

Ado made two baskets as the Bulldogs took the first of three 10-point leads.

James Reese's three-point play pulled North Texas within 54-48 with 6:54 left.

The Mean Green got within six points twice more before baskets by Smith and Stewart increased Mississippi State's lead to 62-52 with 4:31 remaining.

Jones made consecutive 3-pointers to cut the Bulldogs' lead to 64-58 with three minutes left.

North Texas got within six three more times, but couldn't get any closer as it missed its last five field-goal attempts.

Mississippi State scored the first seven points of the game as Abdul Ado opened the scoring with a jumper and Molinar followed with a 3-pointer and two free throws.

North Texas scored six straight to pull within a point before the Bulldogs went on another run.

Johnson made a jumper and three free throws and Molina made two layups during a 13-2 run that gave Mississippi State a 20-8 lead.

Simmons' basket pulled the Mean Green within 26-17 before Johnson answered with three more free throws.

Bell made two free throws and Simmons made one as North Texas cut the Bulldogs' lead to 29-20 at halftime.

Neither team shot well in the first half as North Texas made 8 of 30 field-goal tries, including 1 of 12 from 3-point range. Mississippi State made 9 of 25 from the floor before halftime, including 1 of 5 from beyond the arc.

For the game, the Bulldogs had a 48.1 percent to 35.7 percent edge in field-goal shooting, but the Mean Green went 7 of 23 from long range while Mississippi State was 1 of 10.

--Field Level Media