Nov. 18, 2014
Missouri State Game Notes 
| Avila Game Notes | MVC Weekly Notebook
- Today's game will be Paul Lusk's 100th as head coach of the Bears. He is 48-51 through his first 99 games.
- Marcus Marshall (Jr., G, St. Paul, Minn.) is coming off the seventh-best scoring game in program history after he scored 38 points in the season opener against Eastern Illinois. It was the most points by any MSU player since 1979.
- Avila coach Rodney Perry played 60 games for the Bears from 1991-93, scoring 334 points and earning MVC All-Defensive Team honors in 1992. The Eagles' sixth-year mentor also coached MSU's Austin Ruder in AAU ball.
- The Bears are 66-20 (.767) over the last four seasons at JQH Arena. MSU was 14-3 at home a year ago with all three defeats coming by three points or less. Missouri State has had winning home records 43 straight seasons.
- In his debut game last Friday, Camyn Boone (Jr., Seattle, Wash.) snagged a game-high 9 rebounds for the Bears. The last MSU player to grab 9 caroms in his Missouri State debut was Tyler McCullough last season at ODU.
- In addition to leading the nation in scoring (through Monday), Marcus Marshall also ranks 7th nationally in free throw percentage, based on number of attempts -- 8-for-8 (1.000).
- Over the last four seasons, only four Division I programs have committed fewer turnovers than the Bears (10.50).
- Christian Kirk (Sr., F, Springfield, Mo.) needs 1 point for 600 in his career, 4 rebounds for 350 and 3 games for 100.
- Missouri State is looking for a 2-0 start for the second straight season and third time in four years under Lusk.
- Dorrian Williams (Jr., G, Oklahoma City, Okla.) is one field goal shy of 100 for his career. In 64 career games, Williams also has a 1.79 assist-to-turnover ratio.
This the first-ever meeting between Missouri State and Avila in men's basketball. Avila's program started varsity competition in 1990.
Paul Lusk (Southern Illinois, 1995) is 48-51 (.485) in his fourth season at MSU and 50-74 (.403) in his fifth season overall as a head coach. He is 25-29 in MVC games (17-10 at home, 8-19 on the road), 2-3 in MVC Tournament games and 22-19 against all non-conference foes (14-7 at JQH Arena, 6-7 away and 1-5 at neutral sites). He is also 31-17 in all home games, 14-26 on the road, and 3-8 at neutral sites. He has never coached against Avila.
The 43-year-old Lusk took the reins as MSU's 17th head coach on April 1, 2011. He came to Springfield after seven seasons at Purdue (2004-11), including his last three as associate head coach there. Now in his 16th season in the coaching profession, Lusk has previous assistant coaching stops at Southwestern Illinois (1996-97), Missouri Southern (1999-2002) and Southern Illinois (2003-04) in addition to a one-year head coaching stint at (Div. III) Dubuque (2002-03). Lusk has played or coached in 10 NCAA Tournaments.
Last season, Lusk helped engineer the eighth-best turnaround in the Division I ranks as the Bears finished 20-13 and made an appearance in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament. Lusk finished third in the MVC Coach of the Year voting in 2014 and was a finalist for the Skip Prosser Man of the Year Award.
Marcus Marshall scored 38 points - the most by a Missouri State player since 1979 - to help the Bears to a 64-53 win over visiting Eastern Illinois here Friday in the season opener for both clubs.
The Bears closed out the game on a 24-4 run over the final 11-and-a-half minutes, led by Marshall who scored 15 points in that span. The junior finished 12-for-16 from the field with six 3-pointers and 8-for-8 at the line.
Chris Olivier led all Eastern Illinois players with 16 points, despite being held to just 2 points in the second half.
After trailing 18-7 with 7 minutes, 41 seconds left in the opening half, the Bears drew within 29-27 at the intermission and closed the gap to 34-33 on a 16-foot jumper by Christian Kirk less than three minutes into the final period.
Jay Spoonhour's Panthers then rallied with a 10-2 run over the next three minutes behind a pair of 3-pointers to push ahead 44-35, and held that margin through the under-12 media timeout.
But the game belonged to MSU from there as Kirk and Austin Ruder knocked home free throws, and Marshall dropped in a 3-pointer to pull within 49-46. Ruder later kept the rally going with a bank shot jumper that made it a one-point game and forced an EIU timeout. With 6:43 to play, Kirk drove to the bucket and scored off the glass to cap the 8-0 run and give the Bears their first lead, 50-49.
The Panthers took the lead again briefly on a pair of free throws by Reggie Smith, but MSU held the visitors without a field goal for the next five minutes while Marshall went to work. The junior guard registered 12 points in the final six minutes, including all 7 free throws in that span, to put the game on ice. The Bears' defense locked down the Panthers' attack as well, holding EIU to just 1-for-4 from the field in the game's last five minutes.
Marshall's scoring exploits were just one shy of Doug McDermott's JQH Arena record of 39, but the most points by a Missouri State player in any game since Mike Robinson dropped 39 points on Missouri S&T on Feb. 26, 1979.
In the first half, The Bears caught fire in the final three minutes of the opening stanza to nearly erase an 11-point deficit by the break. Marshall fired home 12 of his 18 first-half points in the final 3:13 of the opening period to close MSU's early gap to 29-27 at the midway point.
Behind Marshall and Loomis Gerring, the Bears hit six straight shots to end the half and overcome a 3-for-17 start from the field.
The Bears travel to Texas Tech on Saturday for a 7 p.m. game against the Big 12 club in Lubbock, Texas. Missouri State will then embark on its trip to Anchorage for three games at the Great Alaska Shootout, Nov. 26-29.
