The Missouri State basketball Bears got control of the game with their defense after a racehorse first half and pulled out to an 81-69 victory over South Florida in non-conference action Friday night in Tampa, Fla. The Bears’ win pushed the Missouri Valley Conference to 5-0 against the Big East Conference for the 2006-07 season.
The Bears displayed their usual offensive balance with all five starters scoring in double figures and had a sixth player at nine points as they climbed to 10-2 for the season, including a 9-2 non-conference mark with only a non-league BracketBusters game Feb. 17 remaining among the Bears’ conference games. South Florida slipped to 7-4 overall.
Senior swingman Tyler Chaney did it all for the Bears as he came within two assists of recording the first-ever Missouri State triple double. Chaney had 19 points, 10 rebounds, eight assists and hit 3-of-5 three-point attempts while going 8-of-13 overall from the field. Blake Ahearn cranked home 17 points while Drew Richards had 12, Deven Mitchell and Spencer Laurie scored 10 each and Dale Lamberth added nine.
The Missouri State defense caught hold after intermission, holding the Bulls to .400 (10/25) shooting from the field after USF had hit .552 (16/29) the first half. The game was tied four times and the lead changed hands seven times in the first half as the Bears hit (.636) 7-of-11 from three-point range to forge a 44-40 advantage at the intermission. The Bears broke from a 21-all tie at the nine-minute mark of the half to hold slim leads the rest of the opening period.
The closest USF got to Missouri State the second half was a single point at 51-50 before a 13-2 run by the Bears pushed the lead to double digits at 64-52 with 9:53 to play. The Bulls’ Melvin Buckley fired home three straight treys to pull USF back to within 67-62 with four minutes to play but a minute later the Bears’ turned in an 8-0 run to push the margin to 77-64 with a minute left and the issue was decided.
Buckley scored seven the first five minutes of the game and his 16 points in the final five minutes of the contest amounted to USF’s only scoring in that span of time. He finished with 28 points and eight rebounds, while Kentrell Gransberry got 15 points and nine boards. USF had a slim 33-31 rebound advantage as Mitchell’s eight caroms bolstered the Bears behind Chaney’s 10 boards. Missouri State had 10 steals and forced 22 USF turnovers.
Missouri State breaks for Christmas and then continues its stretch of four straight road games with a visit Saturday, (Dec. 30) to to Missouri Valley Conference foe Creighton. Tipoff is 3:05 p.m. (CST).
