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ST. LOUIS – Behind a dominant second-half effort, Missouri State defeated UIC, 74-57, here Thursday in the opening round of the Missouri Valley Conference Men's Basketball Tournament.
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After leading by four at the half, the Bears (17-14) shot 55.2 percent from the field in the final stanza and got a game-high 17 points from
Alston Mason, 15 from
Jonathan Mogbo and 13 by
Damien Mayo Jr. to secure the win.
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Missouri State outscored the No. 11-seeded Flames by a 40-27 margin in the second half. All 13 of Mayo's points came in the final period and matched a season scoring high. The freshman also snagged 6 rebounds.
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With the Bears leading 40-34 with 18:33 to go, Mayo took over. The freshman reeled off Missouri State's next 11 points over the next five minutes to extend the lead to 51-38. Following a dunk by Mogbo and a 3-pointer from
James Graham, the Bears pushed ahead by 16 – their largest lead of the night to that point.
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Still UIC (12-20) made one last surge and cut its deficit to single digits with back-to-back layups from Jace Carter whose dunk with 5:07 to play made it a 62-53 contest.
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Missouri State responded with a layup from Mayo and a dunk from Mogbo – his fifth dunk of the night and 42
nd of the season, which tied a Bears' single-season record. He also racked up a team-high 8 rebounds on the evening.
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Down the stretch, Graham put things on ice with back-to-back 3-pointers in the final 75 seconds, while Mason's two free throws moments later gave the Bears their largest lead of the game and extended the final margin to 17.
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The Bears shot 49.2 percent for the game on 29-of-59 field goals, while converting 9-of-25 (.360) from long range and 7-of-13 (.538) at the foul line. MoState held a 39-30 rebounding advantage and turned the ball over just six times – a season low.
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Donovan Clay snagged 7 rebounds and dished out 6 assists to contribute to the victory.
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UIC was led by Carter's 14 points, while Christian Jones tallied 12 in reserve. The Flames finished 23-of-58 (.397) overall, 5-of-22 (.227) from distance and 6-of-12 (.500) at the line with 7 turnovers.
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In the first half, the Bears never trailed and held UIC to 38.7 percent shooting to lead 34-30.
Alston Mason and
Kendle Moore scored 9 points apiece to lead the No. 6-seeded Bears who led by as many as nine on two occasions.
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The Bears will take the No. 3 seed Southern Illinois in the State Farm MVC Tourament quarterfinals on Friday at 8:30 p.m. Tickets and tournament information are available at
ArchMadness.com.
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