The seventh-seeded Missouri State Bears battled gamely and had the second-seeded Illinois State Redbirds on the ropes for more than 30 minutes but ISU managed a 12-0 scoring burst from which the Bears could not recover in the closing minutes of a season-ending 63-58 setback to ISU in the quarterfinals of the State Farm Insurance Missouri Valley Conference Tournament Friday night at Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Mo.
Illinois State won its fifth straight and moved to 23-8 on the season and a Friday night date in the tourney semifinals while the Bears saw the end of a four-game win streak and closed their campaign with a 17-16 record. It was Missouri State’s seventh straight winning season.
    Jumping from an 8-0 start and double-digit leads twice in the first half, the Bears set the tone early and it took some late threes and then a string of free throws to get the Redbirds into the winner’s circle as they clipped Missouri State for the third time in three meetings this season.
    ISU came back from a 21-11 deficit and went ahead for the first time at 26-24 with 5:23 left in the first half. The opening period finished with a flourish and the Bears took a 31-30 lead into the locker room at the break.
   ISU got the first five points of the second half before MSU surged back with a 10-0 run to turn a 39-35 deficit into a 45-39 lead with 13:12 to play. The Bears were up 49-42 with 10:24 left and were still ahead 51-47 with 7:03 to play when Boo Richardson delivered a trey with the shot clock expiring to cut the Redbirds’ gap to one. Alex Rubin then nailed a trey at the 5:44 mark to put ISU ahead to stay. The Redbirds added another basket and four free throws as the Bears were stuck on 51 points for nearly five minutes. Chris Cooks added a free throw and a basket and Dale Lamberth scored underneath to close Missouri State within 59-56 with 90 seconds left but the Bears were forced to foul and ISU got its last eight points of the game from the foul line and MSU missed connections on its final possessions.
    After three straight games at 59 percent and one at 45 percent in the four-game win string, Missouri State had a tough shooting night vs. ISU as the Bears were at 35 percent for the game. ISU was at 44 percent and made three more three-pointers while the Bears owned a 39-31 rebound margin.
    Senior forwards Dale Lamberth and Deven Mitchell scored 18 points each in their final Missouri State games. Mitchell, the ninth player in school history to finish in the Bears’ all-time top 20 in both points and rebounds, closed out his five MSU seasons with 1,131 points (19th place) and 579 rebounds (17th). He also finished tied for third in career games played (129), tied for third in steals (161) and seventh in free throws (335). Lamberth ended his Bruin days with 954 points for 30th place all-time, right between last year’s teammates Tyler Chaney at 957 and Nate Bilyeu at 939. Lamberth tied for sixth in career threes (112).
    Of the Bears’ other three seniors playing their final games, Drew Richards closed tied for ninth in games (118) and third in blocked shots (133), Spencer Laurie became the eighth Bear all-time with 100 career treys, and Dex Manswell got a spot on the single season blocked shots list.
