Missouri State

Final Stats | Season Stats | Highlights | Postgame Presser | Hall of Fame Classic
 
SPRINGFIELD – Led by Keandre Cook's 20 points, five Missouri State players scored in double figures here Sunday in an 83-70 win over visiting Stetson in a preliminary-round game of the Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame Classic.
 
Jarred Dixon added 18 points for the Bears (3-0), with Kabir Mohammed adding 12, Obediah Church scoring 11, and Szymon Wojcik pouring in 10 points for the home side.
 
Stetson (1-1) was led by Ricardo Lynch with 16 points, while Abayomi Iyiola notched 14 points and a game-high 11 rebounds.
 
Missouri State, which never trailed, forced 18 turnovers and held the Hatters to just 35 percent shooting from the field to keep the Atlantic Sun Conference foe in check most of the night.
 
After leading by 11 at the midway point, the Bears built their lead to 51-37 just 100 seconds into the final period. But Stetson then mounted its biggest offensive sequence of the game over the next three minutes. The Hatters used a 6-0 run to get within eight, and later got key buckets from Iyiola and a Marques Sumner, whose triple at the 15:21 mark made it a 57-48 game.
 
The teams traded buckets coming out of the under-16 media timeout, but MSU then reeled off 10 unanswered points in a decisive run that made it a 69-50 game with 9:37 to play. A 3-pointer by Ross Owens out of the left corner and a clutch jumper by Cook highlighted the Bears' outburst and helped give the home side its biggest lead of the game.
 
Stetson made a late run, sandwiching a bucket by Iyiola with threes from Leo Goodman and Christiaan Jones to get back within 11, but Missouri State was able to lean on seniors Church and Ryan Kreklow in the final minutes to cinch the victory.
 
MSU finished 27-of-56 (.482) from the field, thanks in part to a 52-percent effort in the second half. The Bears matched Stetson on the glass, 42-42, but left some points at the stripe, converting just 23-of-38 (.605) free throws created by 30 Hatter fouls.
 
Stetson was 26-of-74 (.351) from the field with eight 3-pointers and an impressive 10-of-13 (.769) performance at the foul line.
 
In the first half, the Bears used a 15-point effort by Cook to push ahead 43-32 at the intermission. Back-to-back buckets by Mohammed nearly 14 minutes into the opening stanza gave MSU its first double-figure lead of the game, 27-17, and Cook extended the home side's advantage to 43-30 just before the break with consecutive buckets, including a tomahawk dunk.
 
Missouri State now has eight days to prepare for a Monday, Nov. 19 matchup with Nebraska in the semifinal round of the Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame Classic, powered by ShotTracker. The Bears and Cornhuskers will play at 6 p.m. at Sprint Center in Kansas City on that date in a nationally-televised game on ESPNU.
 
The Bears will then square off with Texas Tech or USC the next day at Sprint Center. For game tickets and Hall of Fame Weekend information, visit www.axs.com.