SPRINGFIELD -- Missouri State (12-1, 2-0) seemed to find another gear on Friday night before the second-largest home crowd in school history, as the Bears scored six points in the final 37 seconds to turn back Illinois State, 68-64.
The Bears led for all but 14 seconds of the first half and later built their biggest lead of the game on a three-pointer by Kyle Weems with 11:42 remaining to put Missouri State up 47-38. However, the visiting Redbirds (10-3, 1-1) stormed back on a bucket by Osiris Eldridge, a three-pointer by Kellen Thornton and an trey by Eldridge over the next 1:18 to make it a one-point game, 47-46.
Weems, who played just 23 minutes on the night with foul trouble, then responded with his fourth three-pointer of the game with 9:29 to play and rebuild a four-point lead for Missouri State.
With 3:30 to go, Justin Fuehrmeyer hit a pair of free throws coming out of the under-four-minute media timeout to stifle another ISU run and put the Bears up 59-56, but Alex Rubin fired home his second three-pointer of the night on Illinois State's next possession to tie the game. Then the star of last year's meeting between the squads, Lloyd Phillips, hit a driving layup to give the Redbirds a 61-59 advantage with just 1:32 remaining.
The crowd of 10,008 at JQH Arena then came unglued as Adam Leonard pulled up for a long three just left of the key, and drained his fourth trey of the night to put the home club back on top, 62-61. A free throw by the Redbirds' Jackie Carmichael tied the game with 53 seconds to go before Leonard would hit another bucket at the 37-second mark to give MSU a 64-62 lead.
The key play of the night then came on the next possession on a drive to the basket by Eldridge, the MVC Preseason Player of the Year. On a set clear-out for Eldridge, Fuehrmeyer cut the fellow senior off, held position, and drew a charging violation on Eldridge for his fifth personal foul.
Weems and Leonard iced four free throws in the final 10.2 seconds, and the Bears improved to 2-0 in MVC play with a 68-64 win.
The victory for MSU snapped a five-game losing streak to the Redbirds and avenged a 72-69 overtime defeat at the hands of ISU in last season's league opener for both squads.
Leonard finished with a game-high 20 points, including four three-pointers and a perfect 6-for-6 at the free throw line. As a team, MSU made 14-of-15 (.933) charity shots. Weems scored 19 and matched a career-high with five treys, while Jermaine Mallett posted his first career double-double with 15 points and a game-high 11 rebounds.
Will Creekmore also added 8 points for MSU which shot .423 (22-of-52) for the ball game and was 10-for-27 (.370) from beyond the arc. MSU also owned a 34-31 rebounding advantage.
Illinois State got 14 points from Carmichael, 13 from Eldridge, and 11 from Dinma Odiakosa who led ISU with nine rebounds.
The Bears take to the road Sunday at 1:05 p.m. as they travel to Northern Iowa (11-1, 2-0), the MVC preseason favorite and defending league champion.
MSU returns to JQH Arena for two games next week with a Wednesday 7:05 p.m. game against Wichita State and a Saturday afternoon matchup with Bradley, at 2:05 p.m.
In the first half, MSU led 31-28 at the intermission behind 10 points from Leonard and eight points by Weems.
Missouri State got the first basket of the game from junior Mallett, a three-pointer, and then pulled ahead 5-4 on Mallett's second bucket after the Redbirds took a brief lead on a basket by Eldridge at the 18:10 mark. Eldridge's score would be ISU's only lead until the 3:08 mark of the second half.
MSU would extend its lead to 12-4 on a Weems' break-away dunk and a trey by Leonard with 15:58 to go in the opening period, before ISU got back to back threes from Rubin and Eldridge over a 10-second span to cut its deficit to 12-10.
A pair of treys by Weems later in the half helped build the lead to 24-15, and Keith Pickens short jumper with less than a minute to play in the opening stanza gave the Bears a 31-28 advantage going into the break.
