SPRINGFIELD – Paced by a career-high 28 points from Alston Mason and 17 more from Donovan Clay, Missouri State led wire to wire here Monday to turn back visiting Oral Roberts, 84-69, in the Bears' home opener.
 
Mason finished 10-for-15 from the field and 5-of-7 from 3-point range.

N.J. Benson also scored in double figures for Missouri State (1-1) with a career-best 11 points, while Mason snagged a game-high 9 rebounds, and Matthew Lee dished out 9 assists to help the winning cause.
 
ORU (1-2) was led by Isaac McBride's 27 points with DeShang Weaver pitching in 11, and Jalen Miller adding 10 points.
 
The Bears parlayed a 12-point halftime lead into a 24-point advantage over the first 12 minutes of the second half. Mason sparking an 11-2 outburst to gain separation, scoring seven points in less than a minute-and-a-half to change a 15-point lead into MSU's largest lead of the game.
 
With just over six minutes to go, Mason's bucket gave the Bears a 71-48 lead before the visitors mounted their best stretch of the game. The Golden Eagles embarked on a 15-5 outburst over a four-minute stretch to whittle their deficit to 13.
 
Aside from Mason's fifth 3-pointer of the night with 26 seconds to play, the Bears only scored at the free throw line in the final three-and-a-half minutes to secure the win. Damien May Jr., Mason and Lee combined for 13 free throw attempts down the stretch to extend MSU's lead to 18 in the final moments.
 
McBride, who scored 11 of his 27 points in the final four minutes, launched a trey at the buzzer that found its mark to trim MoState's final margin to 15.
 
The Bears finished 30-of-63 (.476) from the field and 9-of-24 (.375) from beyond the arc. The Bears were also 15-for-23 (.652) at the foul line with a 42-37 rebounding edge and 11 turnovers.
 
With the victory, the Bears improved to 39-3 in home openers during their Division I era. 

ORU finished 26-of-72 (.389) overall, 5-for-25 (.200) from distance and 8-of-9 (.889) at the stripe with 10 turnovers.
 
In the first half, Clay posted 12 points and snagged 4 rebounds to push the Bears ahead by a dozen. Alston Mason knocked down back-to-back threes to start MSU's scoring and ended the opening stanza with three buckets from beyond the arc.
 
Benson capped a key 7-0 run by the home club late in the opening half. After Cesare Edwards scored up close, Mason dropped in his third trey of the period, and Benson's thundering dunk made it a 32-19 game coming out of the final media timeout. A three from Raphe Aryes put MSU ahead by 14 points before settling for a 39-27 advantage at the midway point.
 
Missouri State will head to the U.S. Virgin Islands later this week to play three games in the Paradise Jam in St. Thomas. The Bears open up the eight-team tournament on Friday name against Florida Gulf Coast (1-2) at 7 p.m. (Central). All games at the Paradise Jam will air on ESPN+.
 
The Bears are back home on Saturday, Nov. 25 to battle South Carolina State at 1 p.m. Missouri State welcomes back coach Steve Alford and the 1999 Bears for that game, along with the jersey retirement ceremony of Bears' great Danny Moore.
 
Tickets for the South Carolina State game – and all home contests – are available at MissouriStateBears.com or by visiting the Missouri State Box Office at Great Southern Bank Arena, (417) 836-7678, during regular office hours.