Bears Fall to Evansville in Overtime, 62-59, Wednesday Night
From an MSU Athletics Press Release:
EVANSVILLE, Ind. -- Missouri State battled home standing Evansville to the third overtime battle between the clubs in four meetings, only to fall short, 62-59, here Wednesday in Missouri Valley Conference play.
The Bears (3-11, 1-1) got 17 points and 9 rebounds from Anthony Downing, while Nathan Scheer added 10. Evansville (8-6, 1-1) was led Egidijus Mockevicius with 18 points, while Troy Taylor added 19 rebounds for the Purple Aces.
MSU nearly pulled off a miracle comeback, overcoming a four-point deficit in the final 15 seconds with baskets by Scheer with 7.6 to go before Downing stole the inbound pass and scored the tying layup with 4.4 to go to force the extra period.
In overtime, Evansville went 5-for-8 from the field, including a key jumper by Ned Cox with 5.4 seconds left to seal the win.
After the clubs exchanged leads and broke two ties, Gavin Thurman put MSU by its widest margin of the game with a 3-pointer at the 3:49 mark. The Bears eventually built that into a 47-43 lead with a Pickens basket at the 3-minute mark. The home team got to the foul line four times in the final 2:18 and made all four shots.
A pair of foul shots by Ryan with 15.3 to go gave the Aces a 51-47 lead before MSU's impressive last-minute heroics.
MSU was 23-for-5 (.404) from the field and 5-of-16 (.313) from long range in addition to an 8-for-14 (.571) effort at the line. The Bears were out-rebounded 43-37 and committed 13 turnovers.
Evansville finished 22-for-61 (.361) overall and 2-for-15 (.133) from long range with an 16-for-20 (.800) effort at the line.
The Bears will have little time to recover when they travel to Drake (6-7, 0-2) on Saturday at 7:05 p.m.
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