BILOXI, Miss. -- Mississippi State earned its third win of the season, even if this one wont be remembered for its beauty.Victoria Vivians scored 17 points, Breanna Richardson added 11 and the 10th-ranked Bulldogs beat Tulane 66-49 on Wednesday night at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum.Both teams struggled to score points early, but when the Bulldogs (3-0) began to find their shot in the second quarter, Tulane (1-1) stayed cold.The Green Wave went scoreless in the final 4:36 of the second quarter, which helped Mississippi State take a 36-16 advantage into halftime.Tulanes best chance at mounting an upset bridged the third and fourth quarters thanks to a 10-0 run. The rally was aided by consecutive 3-pointers from Leslie Vorpahl, bringing the Green Wave within 47-35. Mississippi State responded with its own small run, however, to squash the comeback attempt.Tulanes late run -- coupled with the Bulldogs shooting just 36.1 percent from the field -- frustrated MSU coach Vic Schaefer.I didnt think we had some kids who came out in the second half and were ready to play. I think if youre going to be who everybody says we are, if were going to be a top 10 team, then you come out and win (the second half) by 20 again, Schaefer said. You dont come out and stink it up and play dead even with them in the second half.Vorpahl carried the Green Wave. The senior guard scored 20 points on 9 of 11 shooting from the floor.She came in and really competed and did a good job of running the team and also looking for her shot, Tulane coach Lisa Stockton said.Harlyn Wyatt added 10 points for Tulane.Mississippi State has won four straight over the Green Wave.HOME SWEET HOMEMississippi State freshman Ameshya Williams and sophomore Jazzmun Holmes played in front of their hometown fans for the first time as college athletes. Both graduated from nearby high schools and saw time off the bench. Williams scored four points with three rebounds in the final five minutes of the game. Holmes finished with two rebounds, two assists and one steal in 14 minutes.STAT OF THE NIGHTMississippi State grabbed 24 offensive rebounds and finished with 26 second-chance points, dwarfing Tulanes seven second-chance points.Our defense, even in the first half, I dont think was bad, Stockton said. They were shooting 30-something percent, but it was the offensive rebounds that were keeping them in it.COOLING OFFMississippi State entered Wednesday nights game shooting 57.7 percent from 3-point range. The Wave held the Bulldogs to just 23.5 percent on 4 of 17 shooting.BIG PICTUREMississippi State: Fresh off of dominant wins against Villanova and Maine in their first two games of the season, the Bulldogs continued to show why theyre a top 10 team.Tulane: After a convincing showing in a 79-56 season-opening win against Grambling on Nov. 12, the Green Wave suffered their first setback of the season.UP NEXTMississippi State: The Bulldogs have a big test awaiting them at 5 p.m. Sunday when they host No. 8 Texas (1-1) in Starkville.Tulane: The Green Wave travel to face Southern Miss on Sunday. Paul Pierce Jersey . 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He became the first Indian Greco-Roman wrestler to qualify for the Olympic Games in 12 years. And he is, as a 98kg-class wrestler, the heaviest among the Indian fighters heading to Rio. Hardeeps first achievement brought relief to Indias small Greco-Roman wrestling community. The second factoid no doubt will cause much mirth.Hardeeps 98kg Greco-Roman event is the highest weight category for Indian boxers, wrestlers and the sole judoka in Rio. His event will take place on August 16. After his Rio qualification came through in March, Hardeep was joined two months later by 85kg middleweight Ravinder Khatri.Before Hardeep, 26, and Khatri, 24, only 10 Indian Greco-Roman wrestlers have competed at the Olympics, the last being 60kg featherweight Mukesh Khatri in 2004. They are a rare species, because it is freestylers, fresh out of Indias traditional akharas, who have qualified and competed in large numbers through Indias Olympic history.Hardeep himself was a freestyle wrestler who shifted to Greco-Roman as a 19-year-old three years into competitive wrestling after a knee injury. His national Greco-Roman coach Kuldeep Singh says this is a transition that is possible to make. A freestyle wrestler who has good holding power, strong shoulders and lateral muscles can switch over, says Kuldeep. Hardeep has been with me from 2011 and we always had a lot of hope in him.The primary difference between freestyle and Greco-Roman is that the latter allows tackles and holds only above the waist, whereas in freestyle, the legs also are allowed to serve as levers in both attack and defence.The 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi had breathed life and relevance back into Greco-Roman wrestling in India, the build-up itself, saying Kuldeep, leading to a push towards the wrestling style not considered and Indian staple. Before the Commonwealth Games, Greco-Roman was started in schools, at the university level, he says. I think our Greco-Roman standard will get better in next four-odd years since there will be more competition across categories. India had won medals - four golds, a silver, two bronzes - in each of the seven Greco-Roman weight categories at the 2010 CWG.It was around this time that Hardeep, the son of a farmer in Haryanas Jind district, came into the junior camp and switched to Greco-Roman. I had strength in my hands and arms, and despite the knee injury I found that my body responded to Greco-Roman wrestling, he said. It was tough to switch to at first, but now Ive been fully immersed in it for about four years or so.Hardeep came to the SAI Northern Regional Centre in Sonepat from a sports school in Nidani village, set up by a formal director general of police, Mahendra Singh Malik, and run by Dileep, the villages sarpanch (headman). Hardeep remembers watching the 2004 Athens Olympics wrestling event on TV at his school.Twelve years on, the idea that the current batch of the Nidani Sports School will watch him on TV from Rio delights him.dddddddddddd He believes Khatri and his own Olympic qualification has struck a blow for Indias Greco-Roman wrestlers. I think the wrestling community doesnt think now that these Greco-Roman people are just there to make up the numbers, he says. They can actually achieve something - even win a medal.He says Indias two freestyle Olympic medallists - Sushil Kumar and Yogeshwar Dutt - have put a medal within the grasp of every wrestler who has followed them. A path has been laid out, a mindset has changed, Hardeep says. Now people dont go out of the country for a tour. Now we go out for a medal. Every man.The Indian wrestlers at the Asian Qualification event in Astana, Kazakhstan, in March he says, similarly wanted to do more than merely make the trip. They wanted to get to Rio. In Astana, Hardeep won two rounds - 11-0 against Arslan Saparmammedov (Turkmenistan) and 11-2 against Margulan Assembekov (Kazakhstan) - and entered the final, making him eligible for qualification. He conceded the final to Di Xiao (China) due to a knee injury.Yogeshwar competed in Astana too and Hardeep remembered his advice: You have to fight well. Qualification is no big deal, it can be done.Hardeep and Khatri, from the army sports school in Pune, represent a new generation of Indian Greco-Roman wrestlers whose Olympic qualification marks the end of a round of achievements at the Commonwealth and Asian levels. Hardeep was part of the Indian team that won four medals at the Bangkok Asian Championships; he won a silver in 98kg category and since then has been signed up by the JSW Sports Excellence Programme.The difference between Greco-Roman wrestlers from India and other countries, Hardeep says, used to be speed and power. We used to have fewer throws in the past than the wrestlers from overseas, but I think were doing that a lot more now, he says. Our Greco wrestlers come through freestyle and have to make the change.Kuldeep and Hardeep are both passionate when talking about their disciplines virtues and demands. Greco-Roman is seen as more attractive because there are many throws, says Kuldeep. Once a wrestler is lifted, you cant try to defend yourselves by catching or holding your opponents legs - thats when the throws come. Its makes for great drama. It is all about explosive power.Greco-Roman wrestling requires enormous spinal flexibility along with power because throws can be made over ones own back if necessary - by bending backwards and forming a bridge.Hardeep says to prevent being lifted a fighter must build both ground defence and power. You have to pick one quintal weight [100kg] off the ground and throw it down, he says. Or prevent yourself becoming the quintal being picked up and thrown.?It is not a fate that the heaviest fighter in the Indian contingent to Rio can contemplate lightly. ' ' '