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VALPARAISO, Ind. – With a solid offensive and defensive balance, Missouri State rolled to a 74-57 road win here Saturday over Valparaiso. Isiaih Mosley led all players with 32 points for the Bears (13-6, 4-2 MVC), his third straight 30-point scoring effort.
 
Gaige Prim added 10 points for MSU with Donovan Clay notching a game-high 9 rebounds in his return to his former school.
 
Valpo (8-10, 1-5) got 14 points from Ben Krikke and 9 from Sheldon Edwards in its fourth straight Valley defeat.
 
The Bears never trailed and held Valparaiso to just 40.7 percent shooting, while out-rebounding the home side by a 38-31 margin. On the offensive end, MoState committed just seven turnovers and fired at a 46.8 percent clip with 14 assists and eight 3-pointers.
 
In the first half, Missouri State took less than five minutes to build a 9-point cushion and pushed ahead by double figures on back-to-back layups by Prim midway through the period.  Lu'Cye Patterson helped dig MSU out of a 1-for-9 slump later in the opening stanza, scoring four points at a key juncture to help the Bears go ahead 30-16 moments before a key bucket by Isaac Haney.
 
The Beacons dropped in a pair of 3-pointers in the final minute of the half to make it a 34-26 game at the intermission, despite shooting just 33 percent from the field.
 
The second half proved much the same with Valparaiso closing Missouri State's lead to three on a triple from Kevion Taylor in the opening minute of the half before an explosive 16-4 response capped by a transition three from Ja'Monta Black gave the visitors their biggest lead of the night at the time, 50-33.
 
Valparaiso would get back within 55-46 after a 12-3 spurt midway through the second half, but Mosley put MSU on his back and scored 8 of MSU's next 11 points. A dunk by Clay with 1:35 remaining in the contest pushed Missouri State ahead 71-53 for its biggest advantage of the ball game.
 
For the contest, MSU was 29-of-62 (.468) overall, 8-of-19 (.421) from distance and 8-of-9 (.889) from the line. Mosley and Black hit three triples apiece. Prim dished out 5 assists.
 
Mosley became just the second Bear ever to score 30 points or more in three straight ball games, joining Jimmie Dull (1978) in that elite company.
 
Valparaiso finished the game 22-of-54 (.407) overall, 5-of-17 (.294) from long range, and 8-of-15 (.533) at the line.

The Bears return to JQH Arena on Wednesday to play Illinois State at 7 p.m. Tickets for the Illinois State game are available at MissouriStateBears.com or by visiting the Old Missouri Bank Box Office at JQH Arena, (417) 836-7678, during regular box office hours.