Missouri State basketball grabs statement road win at Saint Mary’s

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For Missouri State’s struggles on the road this season, the Bears picked a heck of a time to come away with their first victory on another team’s court.

A 69-64 win for the Bears (9-4) at Saint Mary’s (8-6) sends Missouri State into Missouri Valley Conference play with one of the best wins of the six-year Dana Ford era.

“Our emphasis for the season is staying together and elevating our team to a new level and be able to do some things we’ve been unable to do over the last few seasons,” Ford said in his postgame radio interview. “We stayed together and our guys played encouraged and with an unbelievable amount of confidence.”

Donovan Clay put the Bears on his back down the stretch by scoring the team’s final six points. He backed down a defender to the basket to put MSU up by four with 48 seconds left. After Saint Mary’s got a 3 to fall at the other end, Clay made a jumper from the elbow with nine seconds left to put the Bears up by four and the game on ice.

Clay scored 18 points on 7 of 16 shooting. Alston Maon added 19 points with seven assists. Chance Moore added 16 points on 50% shooting while playing critical defense down the stretch.

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A back-and-forth second half saw neither team lead by more than six. Nearly every time the Bears had a chance to take over, the Gaels had a big shot waiting for them at the other end.

That stalled over the final 6:33 of the contest after Saint Mary’s took a five-point lead. It only made two shots for the remainder of the game by finishing on a 2 for 11 drought.

Over the same stretch, the Bears couldn’t seem to miss. MSU knocked down its final four shots which included a deep Mason 3 to take the lead.

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After the Gaels responded with a 3 to go up by one with 3:43 left, a Mason layup gave MSU a lead it wouldn’t give back with 2:36 to go.

Saint Mary’s, picked to win the West…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/missouri-state-basketball-grabs-statement-031206964.html

Author : Springfield News-Leader

Publish date : 2023-12-24 03:12:06

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