For the second night in a row, the Missouri State basketball Bears put themselves in a position to win down the stretch but couldn’t convert at the end and dropped a 72-70 decision to the Purdue Boilermakers in the third-place game of the Findlay Toyota Las Vegas Classic Sunday night at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, Nev.
    The Bears took a 70-69 lead on Justin Fuehrmeyer’s two free throws with 29 seconds left in the contest but Purdue’s Chris Kramer got loose for a pull-up jumper from short range in the lane at the 22-second mark to push the Boilermakers in front by a point. The Bears inbounded the ball, called time out, and set a play from side court with six seconds remaining. The Bruins’ first inbounds pass was knocked away but Missouri State retained possession. The second inbounds attempt saw a short lob pass from Fuehrmeyer to a leaping Dale Lamberth under the goal but Lamberth’s shot rolled off and Purdue picked up a final free throw on a late foul.
The game was reminiscent of the Bears’ 81-73 loss to Alabama in Saturday’s semifinal test when the score in that contest was tied six times with 11 lead changes. Sunday against Purdue, the lead changed hands 11 times and the contest was tied 16 times before Purdue prevailed to move to 8-4 for the season while the Bears dropped to 7-5.
    Sunday, the Bears had a nine-point lead at 21-12 before Purdue fought back to gain a 32-32 intermission deadlock. Purdue built a six-point advantage at 45-39 but the Bears got the contest even again at 49-49 midway in the half. The Boilermakers built five-point leads three more times and were up 66-61 with 2:11 to play. Deven Mitchell chunked in four straight free throws and then Chris Cooks buried a long trey with a minute left to make it 68-68. Purdue got one of two free throws from Kramer with 41 seconds left before Fuehrmeyer’s two charities gave Missouri State its last lead.
Mitchell led Missouri State with 19 points while Lamberth added 17 and Fuehrmeyer got a career-high 13. Scott Martin with 17 and Robbie Hummel with 16 paced Purdue scoring. Hummel grabbed a dozen rebounds to pace Purdue to a 35-25 advantage on the boards.
The Bears return home for a short Christmas break and will come back for practice Wednesday to prepare for their Missouri Valley Conference opener at defending MVC champion Southern Illinois Dec. 30. Tipoff is at 2:35 p.m.
