Bears Rattle Reddies in Final Exhibition Contest Tuesday
November 11, 2009 | Men's Basketball
SPRINGFIELD -- Missouri State concluded its preseason exhibition schedule Tuesday night with a 79-52 win over Henderson State at JQH Arena.
The Bears collected wins in both ot their exhibition contests, while Henderson State fell to 0-3 in the preseason.
MSU was led by newcomers Jermaine Mallett and Adam Leonard with 15 points apiece, while sophomore Kyle Weems added 14. Mallett also added a game-high seven rebounds for the Bears who shot 46.5 percent from the field, including nine three-pointers.
The Bears used the long ball early to attack the Henderson State zone as Leonard scored the first nine points for the home team in a 9-3 start. After the Reddies closed the gap to 24-16 with 6:34 to go in the opening half, Weems scored MSU's next six points to build a 12-point advantage, 30-18, the largest of the first half for Cuonzo Martin's squad.
Henderson fought back with the help of senior Kyle Oldham and junior Lucas Whisenhunt who cut the Gulf South Conference school's deficit to 33-29 with less than a minute to go in the first half, 33-29. However, Mallett responded with a jumper just before the half to give the Bears a 35-29 lead at the intermission, despite a lackluster 14-for-38 (.368) shooting effort in the first 20 minutes.
The second half was a different story as Weems and Mallett teamed up to hit the first nine points of the second half for MSU, and a Weems jumper just before the shot clock expired with 11:02 to play made it a 55-40 game. The Bears shot 57.6 percent from the field in the second half and connected on 6-of-10 three-pointers in the final stanza.
The Reddies could not close the gap despite 10 second-half points by Oldham, who finished with a game-high 17 points, including three field goals from beyond the arc.
The Missouri State depth also played a key role in the victory as the Bears' reserves outscored the Reddies' bench by a 34-9 margin. Missouri State owned a 42-28 rebounding advantage, including 17 offensive rebounds that led to 20 second-chance points. Eleven Missouri State players were in the scoring column.
Henderson State, whose late arrival at JQH Arena pushed the start time back 10 minutes, finished with a 42.9-percent shooting effort and had nine steals. The Reddies' 52 points were the team's lowest total of its three exhibition contests against Division I foes, including previous games against Southern Illinois and Arkansas State.
The Bears open their 2009-10 regular season Monday night at 7:05 p.m. against Auburn at JQH Arena.
