LAS VEGAS, Nevada – Missouri State (9-4) got 17 points and 12 rebounds from Alize Johnson and a career-high 16 points from Obediah Church to take down DePaul, 69-58, here Friday in the third-place game of the Continental Tire Las Vegas Classic.
 
The Bears, who led for nearly 33 minutes, avenged a two-point loss at DePaul on Nov. 23 and finished the four-game Vegas Classic with a 3-1 record.
 
Billy Garrett led three DePaul players in double-figures with 16 points. The Blue Demons (7-6) also got 11 points from Tre'Darius McCallum and 10 from Brandon Cyrus.
 
After Missouri State led by a dozen at the intermission, DePaul whittled the MSU lead to six points twice early in the second half. But sophomore Ryan Kreklow ended the Bears' drought with a layup on a nice pass from Church at the 16:38 mark.
 
He would score MSU's first six points of the second stanza and accounted for 11 of 14 Bears' points at a key juncture of the game. His run-out bucket with 15:40 to go pushed Missouri State's lead back to double figures, 43-33, and got MSU's offense back on track.
 
Kreklow finished with 13 points and a career-high 6 rebounds.
 
MSU's defense held DePaul without a field goal for the next seven minutes and kept the Bears afloat while the offense grinded through hard-fought possessions. Church and Chris Kendrix posted traditional 3-point plays during the stretch with Church finishing 4-of-5 at the foul line and 6-of-7 from the field to cap a career night in his return to the starting lineup.
 
DePaul made one last run with about seven-and-a-half minutes to go with a dunk by McCallum and a scoop shot from Cyrus to make it a 53-47 contest. But Johnson, who sat most of the second half with three fouls, returned to the floor for MSU and immediately scored four points in less than a minute.
 
Dequon Miller helped MSU handle the DePaul press in the final moments and tossed a pair of alley-oop passes to Church who threw down two key dunks inside the six-minute mark.
 
Church, who had four dunks on the night, gave the Bears a 61-51 lead with 4:37 to go. He then helped ice the win with two clutch free throws at the 3:23 mark. Jarred Dixon and Kendrix scored MSU's final two buckets to elude a pesky Blue Demons' defense in crunch time and give the Bears a double-figure win over the Big East program.
 
Coach Paul Lusk's team out-rebounded DePaul by a 44-29 margin – including 16 offensive boards -- and went 24-for-37 (.648) on its two-point shots. The Bears finished with 46 points in the paint, their second-highest total of the season.
 
In the first half, Johnson scored 13 points, including 9 on a critical 16-3 run by the Bears over a four-and-a-half minute span. Missouri State went from a 17-13 deficit with nine minutes to go in the half to a 29-20 lead in the blink of an eye with the help of Johnson and support from big men Church and Tyler McCullough.
 
Back-to-back dunks by Church wrapped the run and forced DePaul into a timeout with 4:09 left in the opening period. The Bears surrendered a pair of free throws to Garrett after that but then responded with an 8-0 outburst to go into the intermission with a 37-25 advantage.
 
MSU was 25-for-53 (.472) overall from the field and 18-of-26 (.692) at the stripe, but struggled from long range, getting a triple by Jarrid Rhodes late in the first half as their only trey in 16 tries.
 
Johnson represented MSU on the Las Vegas Classic all-tournament team.
 
DePaul was 18-for-57 (.316) from the field, 4-of-23 (.174) from bonus distance and converted 18-for-21 (.857) at the line with 13 turnovers.
 
The Bears will begin Missouri Valley Conference play at Northern Iowa (5-6) on Wednesday, Dec. 28 at 8 p.m. on FOX Sports Midwest. MSU returns home on Dec. 31 to do battle with Indiana State at 11 a.m. in another FSM broadcast showdown.
 
Tickets for the Indiana State game are available anytime at MissouriStateBears.com or by visiting the Old Missouri Bank Box Office at JQH Arena, (417) 836-7678, during
regular box office hours.

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