Rock bottom for Missouri State hit a few days earlier, losing on its home court Jan. 20 against a rebuilding Illinois State team. This one wasn’t as lopsided as the meltdown against Murray State, but just as devastating.
Yet that fifth defeat in six January games didn’t foretell the scene inside the Bears’ locker room just four nights later.
From out of nowhere, a struggling team found its footing inside Great Southern Bank Arena with an 83-80, double-overtime victory over league contender Drake.
Who saw this coming? It’s why you show up and play the game.
In the center of the room, drenched by a water bath while clutching a game ball, Alston Mason and his teammates bounced up and down while cheering in unison. Mason poured in a career-high 36 points while playing a grueling 44 minutes. He nearly single-handedly willed his team to the victory.
Tired? Mason didn’t show it. Usually quiet as a church mouse, the junior guard even showed a verbal side that rarely comes out.
“This is a turning point for us,” Mason told his jubilant teammates. “This is how we can play. I’m telling you guys, we can really do this. Come on guys, bring it up!”
The team huddled and shouted, “WINNERS!”
‘Show people who we can be'
After the cheers subsided, Coach Dana Ford — who had remained in the background as the players enjoyed their moment — walked to the center of the room.
“Great job, guys. Great job. Total team effort,” Ford said. “Guys, it’s still in there. A team that started 6-1 and just beat that team, it’s still in there. We just have to pull it out every day. Just play ball. Just play ball.”
Mason was the offensive star, but hardly the only hero. Nick Kramer grabbed an offensive rebound and swished a short jumper just ahead of the horn to force overtime. Cesare Edwards scored seven in the second overtime.
Donovan Clay spearheaded a defensive masterpiece that held reigning league player of the year Tucker DeVries scoreless after he scored 16 first-half points.
All photos by Jym Wilson
“We can wake people up and show people who we can be and show our team who we can be,” Mason said. “Getting this win meant a lot.”
If the Bears were to have a chance to save their season, this could have been the moment they pushed back from the ledge. At the least, it was an injection of confidence pumped directly into the team’s collective vein.
Winning together takes the three Es
The Drake game did not seem on a path toward good things for the Bears, as they trailed 42-29 at halftime after being down 16 at one point. This appeared to be a quick path to a third loss of 20 or more points to a conference opponent — but something happened to turn on the light switch.
Missouri State used an 8-0 run early in the second half to get back into the game. Mason couldn’t miss down the stretch and Drake couldn’t make a basket.
Not only did the Bears play with what Ford calls the three Es — energy, effort and enthusiasm — they competed like junkyard dogs for the coveted and all-important “50/50 balls” and locked in on assignments talked about earlier at the afternoon shootaround.
“Paint touches. Get the ball into the post. The more we attack the basket, the better we are,” Ford said in listing keys at the afternoon practice. “Transition defense. Stop the ball. Run back and have 3-point line awareness. And remember, we rise by lifting up each other. We don’t win this game as individuals.”
Dana Ford still believed the Bears could play well
That all came to fruition Jan. 24, just four days after the uninspiring home-court loss to Illinois State in which Ford looked and sounded exasperated.
“I can’t get it right … and I apologize,” Ford told the team after the Illinois State game. The players did not utter a word until the coach came into the room — unlike the feelings two weeks earlier when Murray State embarrassed them and several spoke up in a desperate search for solutions.
“It’s tough right now,” junior guard Raphe Ayres, the team’s player rep at the post-game news conference, says of the sinking mood inside the locker room. “We’re a competitive group, ready for wins, trying to play our best every night. We came up short.”
Ford took the blame, saying in his post-game media conference that “ultimately, I have to do a better job of getting the results that are needed.
“Unfortunately for us, we just haven’t played good basketball and what makes it harder, having seen this team play good basketball before,” Ford said. “Some teams that lose or go on streaks, they haven’t played good ball all year, but you have a group in ours that has shown they can play good ball.
“Again, I’ve got to get them playing good ball.”
Ayres said there was plenty of blame to go around and fans had every right to feel unhappy.
“It’s on the players and the whole organization. We just have to do better,” Ayres said.
Which they did against Drake, and again in a follow-up, 11-point road victory at Valparaiso on Jan. 27.
That made two wins in a row, but a steep climb remained to get out of the January crater.
Coming up in Chapter 6
Shenanigans and good humor are a part of life on the road during a long season. Such humor flows much easier when the team has won two in a row.
Bears Insider Ch. 6>>>
Out of darkness, into the light on the Valley road
