NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Charles Rhodes kept Mississippi State in the game. When his teammates finally started helping, the Bulldogs rallied past Oregon.

And it didn’t hurt that the Ducks suddenly lost their shooting touch.

Rhodes scored a career-high 34 points and the eighth-seeded Bulldogs came back from a 13-point second-half deficit for a 76-69 victory over ninth-seeded Oregon on Friday night.

Mississippi State trailed 41-28 after Malik Hairston’s 3-pointer at the start of the second half, but Oregon didn’t make another 3 until the final seconds, finishing 9-for-38 and 2-of-21 after halftime.

Rhodes scored six straight points to start the Bulldogs’ rally – part of an 8-0 run that cut the lead to five. Mississippi State then fell behind by nine before Barry Stewart made a 3-pointer with just over 13 minutes remaining – the Bulldogs’ first of the game after 12 straight misses.

Until that shot, only four players had scored for Mississippi State. Stewart went on to make three more 3-pointers and finished with 16 points.

Stewart’s third 3 pulled the Bulldogs within one at 52-51. Rhodes then put Mississippi State (23-10) ahead with a dunk.

The Bulldogs finally took control with Stewart’s final 3-pointer, which gave them a 66-60 lead. He was so open in front of the Mississippi State bench that coach Rick Stansbury discretely pointed to him, and Jamont Gordon eventually threw him the ball.

The Bulldogs are making their fifth NCAA tournament appearance under Stansbury. He’s now taken them to the second round four times, but never further than that.

Malik Hairston scored 22 points for Oregon, but when the Ducks (18-14) stopped making outside shots, their offense went into disarray. That was the case for most of the second half.

AP-ES-03-21-08 2155EDT