Led by Dale Lamberth’s first career point-rebound double-double, the Missouri State bench produced 40 points and the hot-shooting Bears snapped a three-game losing streak with an 85-70 Missouri Valley Conference basketball win over the Bradley Braves Saturday night in Hammons Student Center.
    Lamberth hit 8-of-13 from the floor and scored 17 points with 12 rebounds to spark the Bears to their first win since Jan. 15. Missouri State had dropped four of its previous five, including two straight at home. The Bears moved into a tie with Bradley for fourth place in the Valley with each team at 6-5. Missouri State is 15-7 overall and Bradley is 15-8.
    Lamberth got bench help from Shane Laurie who was 4-of-5 from the floor, including a pair of threes, while Justin Fuehrmeyer made threes in his only two tries from the field and Deven Mitchell also scored six. The quartet combined for 40 points, accomplished on .696 (16/23) shooting from the field. Starter Blake Ahearn also hit 8-of-13 and sailed home five threes to lead all scorers with 21 points. Drew Richards added 10 points for Missouri State.
    The Bears hit .640 (16/25) in the first half but only managed a 42-40 halftime advantage as Bradley also shot well, including six threes. Missouri State stayed hot in the second half and finished the game at .585 (31/53) while the Braves dipped below 40 percent after intermission and wound up at .441 (26/59).
    Both the Bears and the Braves fired home a snappy .458 (11/24) from three-point range for the game.
    The Bears’ other big lift was a 26-11 rebound bulge in the second half as Missouri State outboarded the Braves for the game, 39-22.
    Ahearn hit his first three shots of the night to give the Bears a 7-0 lead in the first 80 seconds but BU got back within two at 13-11. The Bears ran out to a 20-11 edge but Bradley got 10 straight points to take a 21-20 lead nine minutes into the contest. The lead changed hands 12 times the last 11 minutes of the first half.
    Bradley forged its only two ties of the second half at 49 and 52 before MSU shot out to a 61-53 lead with 11:47 left in the contest. The Braves got within five points only twice after that, and, after scoring the first seven points of the game, the Bears got the last seven of the contest as the final 15-point margin was their biggest lead of the game.
    Lamberth’s 12 boards were the Bears’ individual high for the season as Deven Mitchell and Tyler Chaney each had had 10 rebounds as the previous best. Mitchell and Chaney are the only other Bears with double-doubles this season.
    Missouri State’s scoring output was its best in the five games since the Bears tossed in 106 against Evansville Jan. 9. Since then, Missouri State hadn’t been above 75 points in any contest and had averaged just 62.8 through those five games.
    Missouri State hits the road for two contests next week, playing at Drake Wednesday (Jan. 31) and at Indiana State Saturday (Feb. 3). Tipoff at Drake is 7:05 p.m.
