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Missouri State Bears Beat Mississippi Valley State 86-62 At JQH Arena

Missouri State Bears Beat Mississippi Valley State 86-62 At JQH Arena

Missouri State Bears Beat Mississippi Valley State 86-62 At JQH Arena

The Missouri State Bears turned a one point halftime lead against one of the poorest rated college basketball teams in the nation into a late game blowout, beating Mississippi Valley State 86-62 Friday night at JQH Arena.

The Bears (5-5) committed 13 turnovers in the first half against the Delta Devils, who came into the contest 343rd in the nation in turnovers allowed.

When Mississippi Valley State’s Torico Simmons drained a three pointer at the first half buzzer, his team went into the locker room trailing 33-32, stunning Bears fans.

But MSU wasted little time taking control after the intermission, with junior Tyrik Dixon scoring seven of the Bears’ first nine points of the frame.

Missouri State quickly used a 14-2 run to go up 47-34 with 16:21 left in regulation.

The Delta Devils would get no closer than eight points the rest of the way, and didn’t get a bucket in the final 4:22.

“There’s nothing worse than learning a good hard lesson,” Bears Coach Dana Ford said. “It ain’t the end of the world for me when they learn those lessons.”

Ford says his team can be so good, but they’re choosing not to be. “Your heart goes out to them. God bless them. I don’t know what team this is here at Missouri State, but if that’s the story that want to write, God bless them. They’re going to get prepared for every game, every opponent, with an unbelievable amount of of passion, effort and detail. Then they’re going to go out there and try to do what they want to do.”

Keandre Cook picked up a 20-10 double-double, leading all scorers with 20 points and pulling down ten rebounds. Dixon added 15 points, and Lamont West and Tulio Da Silva scored 13 each.

Silva limped off the court with help from trainers just under four minutes into the second half, but was back in action four minutes later.

“He has a defensive sprained ankle,” Ford said. “So when we have to go on defense, his ankle’s hurt. But when we come back on offense, his ankle’s not hurt. So that’s called a defensive sprained ankle.”

Michael Green finished with 19 points to lead Mississippi Valley State (1-8).

WATCH: Bears players Lamont West, Keandre Cook and Spencer Brown talked to the media after the win:

The Bears will take on Arkansas State Wednesday, December 11th at 7:00 p.m. at JQH Arena.

Game Notes:

Mississippi Valley State came into Friday’s contest at #329 in the Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) out of 354 teams in college basketball. They had been outscored by an average of 98-69 in their previous eight contests. That includes a 124-70 win over North American, the Delta Devils’ only win of the season.

The Bears shot 69% from the free throw line (18-26), while Mississippi Valley State went 6-14 from the line, missing their first seven attempts.

Ford now has a 21-21 record at Missouri State.

Redshirt junior Spencer Brown from Fayetteville, Arkansas scored his first points of the season, draining a left wing three pointer with 33 seconds left to close out the Bears’ scoring.

Friday’s announced attendance at JQH Arena was 3,552, a number Ford referred to as “not a lot” in his postgame press conference.

 

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