Mississippi State overcame a sluggish start, and Jarvis Varnado nearly had a triple-double for the Bulldogs (3-1), who wrapped up a four-game season-opening homestand in front of 3,214 at Humphrey Coliseum.

Varnado finished with 12 points, 15 rebounds and eight blocks, two shy of his career high, which is also a school record. He had his eighth block less than eight minutes into the second half – he got two swats back-to-back – but didn’t play a lot after that.

This season, Varnado is averaging 16.0 points, 12.0 rebounds and 6.8 blocks per game.

“Jarvis is playing hard,” coach Rick Stansbury said. “Jarvis is supposed to dominate those guys. But Jarvis been good for us, his effort’s been good.”

Dee Bost scored 13 point to go with six boards and four assists; Barry Stewart had 12 points; and Ravern Johnson scored 11.

MSU hit 52.6 percent of its shots, including 40.9 percent (9 of 22) from 3-point range. Pan Am made 29.2 percent of its shots – 18.8 percent in the second half – and 33.3 percent of 3-pointers (7 of 21).

MSU held an early 12-point lead, but UTPA (0-5) cut that deficit to 33-31 at the 3:07 mark of the first half. That must’ve woken up the Bulldogs, who reeled off nine straight points and took a 42-33 lead into halftime.

“In transition we’re playing too fast. I don’t mean we’re running too fast, I mean our minds are moving too fast, particularly Dee,” said Stansbury.

MSU committed nine turnovers in the first half, and the Broncs stayed even in post scoring, 16-16. That changed in the second half, when MSU outscored UTPA in the paint by a 20-4 count. The lead swelled to 48-34 on a Kodi Augustus 3-pointer, and the advantage eventually surpassed 20 points and pretty much stayed there.

Augustus, coming off a two-game suspension, did not start but had nine points and eight rebounds in 21 minutes. He did start the second half.

“It wasn’t anything noticeably wrong with him. I don’t remember getting on him one time,” Stansbury said. “That was a kind of starting over situation tonight.”