ST. LOUIS — Since a mid-February slump took its season off the rails, Missouri State’s men's basketball team put its focus on the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament and the fresh start it represents.
While that talk can be little more than jargon, the Bears played like a team with re-born energy on Thursday at Enterprise Center. Perhaps there was no better opponent to light the fuse than Murray State.
“We kind of took it personal this game,” guard Alston Mason said. “We lost by a lot of points the first game at home and the second game we kind of gave it away.”
The ninth-seeded Bears gave a beatdown to No. 8 Murray State in the opening-round opener, 60-35 with their best defensive performance of the season. Mason scored 22 points to lead the way against a team that beat Missouri State by 24 in Springfield and 10 at Murray State on Valentine’s Day.
The Racers (12-20) were awful from the field, shooting 21 percent overall and missing 18 of 20 3-point attempts. This a team that scored 77 and 82 points in the two earlier wins over Missouri State.
“I’m proud of our players,” Bears coach Dana Ford said. “They did a fantastic job of defending with force. That was something that we emphasized and obviously being able to do it for two halves.”
The victory earns Missouri State a date with regular-season champion and top seed Indiana State at noon Friday. The Sycamores also swept the Bears this season, winning by 22 in Terre Haute but only two on Feb. 10 at Great Southern Bank Arena.
Mason, who scored 10 during a 17-0 second-half run that put the game away, said the Bears came to St. Louis with a chip on their collective shoulder.
“How the season has gone and my personal expectations for our team and what we’re capable of doing … each and every night I feel that we have a good chance to win every game,” Mason said. “This is the stage to prove it. I have a big chip on my shoulder and my teammates feel that way, too.
“It’s going to be a fun matchup. Going against good players is always fun, competing at a high level. We know what type of team that Indiana State is. I feel like we could have got the win the last time we played. This is just another opportunity for us to show what we can do.”
Ford said the Bears should draw confidence from the close loss to Indiana State a few weeks ago. The Bears were one made 3-pointer or one defensive stop away from pulling a huge upset that day.
They would rather have the one on Friday.
“Our group definitely should feel confident, playing anyone,” Ford said. “Our home game against them was a winnable game, but they’re really good. They’re so good offensively and I don’t think they get enough credit for how good they are defensively.
“I’m excited about the opportunity to play them again. Once you get into these settings, I’m excited about all the games and that you’re still playing.”
The Bears, who dream of an historic four-wins-in-four-days run, had an all-around effort against a Murray State team that is not nearly as imposing as Indiana State. They dominated the Racers from the start with a physical brand of play on defense and with rebounding.
N.J. Benson had 10 points and 12 rebounds with Chance Moore scoring 12 for the Bears. They never trailed and took a 27-14 lead to the locker room, the first time this season the Bears took a double-digit lead to the break.
Bears look like closers on Thursday afternoon
Needing a good start to the second half to keep the good mojo going, the Bears got it. Cesare Edwards dunked a lob from Donovan Clay and Mason scored on a drive to push the lead to 39-21, the Bears’ biggest of the day, to force Racers time out with 13:01 remaining.
Clay worked his way inside for a layup and a 41-21 lead at the 12-minute mark, but seconds later the senior forward picked up his fourth foul on the other end when he fell for a shot fake. He came out of the game, forcing Missouri State to survive a stretch without one of its leaders.
Quincy Anderson’s 3-pointer capped a quick 8-0 run and forced a Missouri State time out. Clay came back into the game, with the lead down to 12 with 9:37 to go.
“We probably should have been a little bit more passive on our press with him on the back line with three fouls,” Ford said. “That was a poor decision. But I felt like we could leave him (out) as long as the game was more than 10, but once it got to 10 we kind of had to get him back in there.”
A big play a couple of minutes later as the Bears, their lead 11, were about to get called for a 10-second violation against Murray’s press. Mason got the ball to Moore at the last second and Moore drove it for a 45-32 lead.
Instead of sitting on the lead, the Bears poured it on — and the Racers kept missing. Lee and Mason made back-to-back 3-pointers and Missouri State led 58-32 at the four-minute mark.
The total run was 17-0 by the time it was done as the Bears had their best defensive effort of the season. It was the fewest points allowed by a Missouri State team since a 70-35 home victory over Loyola Chicago in 2019.
The Bears outrebounded the Racers 41-35 and outscored them 8-5 in second-chance points and 26-12 in points in the paint.
“We knew coming in that we had to be able to guard to win this game,” Benson said. “They had two very good games against us and Coach wanted to take away the twos. I think they had 10 twos and that took away a lot of their points.”
Benson posted his eighth point-rebound double-double of the season and third in a row.
Overcoming first-half turnover trouble
Missouri State set the tone early, making its first three shots, including a Mason 3-pointer, to lead 7-2 in the opening minutes and 11-6 at the 14:26 mark. The Racers already had three turnovers as the Bears were pestering them a bit with a three-quarter court trapping press.
Despite turning the ball over on three straight possessions, Missouri State still led 11-8 thanks to solid defense. The Racers opened 3-for-10 from the field over the first 8 1/2 minutes - a much different stat than a 16-0 Murray blastoff on Valentine’s Day.
Lee’s free throw and Moore’s fast-break layup broke the mini-drought and the Bears pushed back in front 18-10 by the nine-minute mark. Thirty seconds later, Lee tossed a lob pass to Benson for a dunk and the Bears led by 10, forcing a Murray State timeout.
Moore’s 3-pointer gave the Bears their biggest lead of the half, 24-13, just over two minutes prior to halftime. Moore found the range again just 24 seconds before the break to make it 27-14 and the Bears capped the half with a defensive stand.
“Congratulations to Missouri State. They were the more physical and tougher team,” Murray State coach Steve Prohm said. “Their physicality overall is what was the difference in the game.”
Bears three stars
Lyndal Scranton’s three stars from Missouri State’s 60-35 victory over Murray State in the opening-round of the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament:
*** Alston Mason scored a team-leading 22, with 10 of them coming during a 17-0 run that began with seven minutes remaining to salt away the victory.
** N.J. Benson was a physical force inside, with 10 points and 12 rebounds. It was Benson’s ninth double-double of the season and third straight.
* Donovan Clay, surprisingly not named to the MVC all-defensive team in awards this week, had eight points and was a defensive presence as Murray State shot 21 percent from the field.
