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CARBONDALE, Ill. – Missouri State's
Gaige Prim scored had career highs in points and rebounds with 29 and 21, respectively, to lead the Bears to a 68-53 road win over Southern Illinois here Wednesday.
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The Bears (15-5, 11-5 MVC) never trailed in rolling to their sixth straight Missouri Valley Conference win and first in Carbondale since 2014.
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Prim, whose rebound total tied for the 17
th-best in program history, also converted 13-of-19 field goals and blocked 3 shots in a 34-minute effort. His 20-20 game was Missouri State's first since Alize Johnson had 24 points and 20 rebounds against Northern Iowa on Jan. 4, 2018 – ironically the last time the Bears were 10 games over .500.
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Demarcus Sharp added 10 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists to the winning cause for the Bears.
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Lance Jones led SIU (10-10, 4-10 MVC) with 13 points, including the game's final six points when the outcome was in hand.
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The Bears stormed out of the gates, making their first nine shots to lead 20-3 just seven minutes into the contest.
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Southern Illinois returned fire with a 13-4 run over the next five minutes to trim its deficit to eight. But Missouri State ended the opening stanza with another fantastic flurry, getting 4 points from Sharp and 6 more from Prim before the intermission to lead 36-22 at the break.
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Prim had 16 points and 12 rebounds in the first half to set the blistering pace for the Bears.
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In the second half, it took coach
Dana Ford's squad just over five minutes to push its advantage to 20 points for the first time. Prim's layup with 14:44 to go made it 46-26 at the time.
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From there, MSU would lead by as many as 21 points on three occasions – first on a 3-pointer by
Jared Ridder with 11:29 to play, and later on a triple by
Ja'Monta Black at the 6:48 mark. Finally, Sharp's quick hitter with 2:12 remaining made it 68-47 before Jones closed out the contest with six unanswered points for the home side and make it a 15-point final margin.
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On the evening, Missouri State finished 30-of-58 (.517) from the field, 5-for-19 (.263) from long range and 3-for-4 (.750) at the line with a 43-27 rebounding advantage. Missouri State also accounted for 42 points in the paint.
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Southern Illinois was 20-of-58 (.345) overall, 6-for-24 (.250) from downtown and 7-of-14 (.500) at the line with just 6 turnovers. The Salukis had just 4 offensive rebounds on the evening, leading to 5 second-chance points.
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The Bears, who are 6-1 in MVC road games this season, wrap up the regular season next weekend at Evansville, Feb. 26-27, with both games starting at 6 p.m., at the Ford Center. The State Farm MVC Tournament runs March 4-7 at Enterprise Center in St. Louis.
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