Dec. 28, 2014
Missouri State Game Notes 
| Southern Illinois Game Notes | MVC Weekly Notebook
- As of Sunday, Marcus Marshall (Jr., St. Paul, Minn.) ranks 6th nationally in scoring (22.0), 5th in 3-point field goal percentage (.545), 5th in free throw percentage (.926), and 8th in 3-pointers per game(3.6).
- Southern Illinois' Anthony Beane ranks 38th nationally in scoring (18.8), 11th in FGA (18.4) and 12th in FGM (87).
- The Bears have shot better than their opponents at the free throw line in 8-of-12 games this year and have made 80 percent or better in 6 straight games. The last time MSU shot 80% at the line 6 games in a row was a 7-game streak from Dec. 8, 1984 to Jan. 7, 1985. Over its last 5 games, the Bears are 71-for-81 (.877) from the charity stripe.
- Austin Ruder (So., Nixa, Mo.) has 396 career points (45g) and has knocked down 101 3-pointers. He and Marcus Marshall, who also has 101 treys in his career, are the 12th & 13th Bears to score 100 or more 3-pointers in a career.
- When MSU shoots better than its opponent from the field, the Bears are 6-0 this season.
- Marcus Marshall needs 24 points to match Jay Kinser (1957-60) with 784 career points and move into the top 50 on Missouri State's career scoring list.
- The Bears have moved up to 8th nationally in free throw percentage (.765), just ahead of Drake (.764) for the MVC lead. Drake ranks 11th nationally in free throw accuracy.
- Christian Kirk (Sr., Springfield, Mo.) and Shawn Roundtree (Fr., Edwardsville, Ill.) are the only two players on the MSU roster who have not scored in double figures this season. Kirk is coming off a 9-point outing against Oral Roberts.
- Marcus Marshall has scored in double figures all 10 games he has played this year and 40 (out of 54) career games.
- SIU head coach Barry Hinson was 169-117 (.591) in 9 seasons at MSU (1999-2008) with four NIT appearances.
- The Bears are opening their 25th season in the Missouri Valley Conference and are 15-9 all-time in Valley openers with five straight league-opening victories (3-0 under Paul Lusk).
The Bears have won 9 of the last 11 meetings, but have come up short in their last two trips to Carbondale in a rivalry that dates back to 1957.
SIU leads the all-time series by a 40-35 margin, and the Salukis are 23-8 at home against the Bears, including last years 72-54 win over MSU at SIU Arena (2/8/14).
In that game, Anthony Beane scored 13 of his game-high 26 in the first 8 minutes of the second half to push SIU to the win. Former Bears Jarmar Gulley (15) and Devon Thomas (11) led Missouri State's scoring.
Paul Lusk (Southern Illinois, 1995) is 53-57 (.482) in his fourth season at MSU and 55-80 (.407) 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 26-25 against all non-conference foes (17-8 at JQH Arena, 8-10 away and 1-7 at neutral sites). He is also 34-18 in all home games, 16-29 on the road, and 3-10 at neutral sites. He is 5-2 against his alma mater, including a 1-2 mark in Carbondale.
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.
Missouri State's defense held visiting Oral Roberts to just four second-half field goals and 32 percent shooting for the game in a 52-45 Bears' non-conference win here Monday, avenging last week's 19-point loss to the Golden Eagles in Tulsa.
The Bears (6-6) got 16 points from Marcus Marshall and 10 from Loomis Gerring, while Tyler McCullough snagged a game-high 7 rebounds in his return to the starting lineup.
Oral Roberts (4-7), which was held to just 14 points in the second half, got 12 points apiece from Obi Emegano and Bobby Word for the game.
After falling behind by 10 in the first half, the Bears stepped up their defense when it counted, forcing ORU into missing its final four field goal attempts of the first half and 23 of its last 27 on the night. Scott Sutton's squad was just 4-for-23 (.174) in the second half and finished 16-for-50 overall.
"It all starts and ends with the defense," said MSU head coach Paul Lusk. "We focused on that at practice yesterday, and our players responded. They didn't push back. This is the kind of game that prepares you for Valley play."
It didn't take Missouri State long to close its double-figure deficit within striking distance as McCullough scored the first two baskets of the second half, before Marshall knocked down a 3-pointer in transition, and Dorrian Williams kissed a jumper off the glass to make it a 33-31 game less than five minutes into the second period.
The Bears wouldn't tie the game until the 10:29 mark when Gavin Thurman drove to the bucket for an easy layup, and finally snagged their first lead of the game on a pair of free throws by Loomis Gerring with 4:44 to go.
With Missouri State's defense grinding, however, ORU went without a field goal for the final 10 minutes of the game, missing its final 11 shots. The Golden Eagles only managed six points from the line on nine attempts in that span.
Still, MSU had to scrape down the stretch to seal the win, as a jumper by Marshall and a hook shot by Boone both pushed the Bears ahead by three down the stretch. Finally a two-handed dunk by Boone on a great open-court pass from Dorrian Williams put the game out of reach with 33 seconds to go.
The Bears out-rebounded ORU, 36-35, and committed just 8 turnovers in a physical, defensive game.
MSU finished just 19-for-52 (.365) from the field overall, but convert 46 percent in the second half. From long range, the Bears struggled with 1-of-10 (.100) from the perimeter.
Missouri State secured its sixth-straight game shooting 80-percent or better at the foul line by converting 13-of-16 (.813) at the stripe on a night when Marshall's consecutive free throw streak ended at 29.
ORU was 3-of-17 (.176) from bonus distance and 10-of-15 (.667) at the line with 11 turnovers.
In the first half, the Bears got 12 of their 21 points from the bench, including 9 by Christian Kirk, as they fell behind by 10 at the intermission.
MSU was just 8-for-28 (.286) from the field and had the misfortune of a controversial block-charge call go against them with 2:30 left in the opening period that gave ORU a 10-point advantage instead of having an opportunity to close within five before the break.
Neither team scored from there, and ORU used its 21-16 rebounding advantage and 44-percent first-half shooting to lead 31-21 at the midway point.
The Bears will turn the calendar to 2015 with a home game on Saturday, Feb. 3 against Drake at 3 p.m. The game will air live on FOX Sports Midwest and the Missouri Valley Conference television network.
