Bears drop fourth straight, Illinois State sweeps season

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SPRINGFIELD — Missouri State’s reserves provided some needed relief on a night when few shots seemed to fall for the Bears. Led by J.T. Miller and Mustafa Lawrence, who scored 12 points apiece, the MSU bench accounted for half of the home club’s points in a 76-60 Missouri Valley Conference setback to Illinois State here Tuesday.

The Redbirds (12-11, 6-5 MVC) got 15 points apiece from Malik Yarbrough and Keyshawn Evans to lead five Illinois State players in double figures. ISU also knocked down 11 3-pointers – four by Madison Williams — and out-rebounded the Bears by a 45-39 margin.

Missouri State (15-9, 5-6 MVC) never led after shooting just 28.1 percent in the first half and trailing by 11 at the midway point.

The second half opened with ISU reeling off five unanswered tallies to push ahead 35-21, but a 5-0 rally led by Obediah Church and Jarrid Rhodes got the Bears within 35-26 with over 16 minutes to play.

But the Redbirds drained 3-pointers on their next three possessions to push ahead by 18 in the span of just over two minutes. Evans, Taylor Bruninga and Williams all buried long-range buckets to make it 44-26 with 14:09 remaining.

That surge started a 24-8 series by the visiting club that culminated with nine minutes to play and the Redbirds up by 25, MSU’s largest deficit of the season.

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Miller, Ryan Kreklow and Lawrence then emerged from the MSU bench to light a spark for the maroon-clad Bears, eventually cutting the deficit in half with a minute to go.

Lawrence nearly doubled his season scoring total behind a 3-for-3 effort from 3-point range, while Miller finished 6-for-14 with 6 rebounds. Tanveer Bhullar was also solid in reserve for MSU, registering 4 points and 4 rebounds with a pair of steals in a 13-minute assignment.

Missouri State, which dropped its fourth straight, finished 21-of-65 (.323) overall and 4-of-23 (.174) from bonus distance. The Bears converted 14-of-20 (.700) at the stripe with 16 offensive rebounds and 30 points in the paint.

Alize Johnson also scored 12 points for Missouri State and gathered in a game-high 10 rebounds for his 16th double-double of the year.

In the first half, the Bears used a 7-2 run over a three-minute span to trim a nine-point deficit to four. Bhullar’s layup at the 7:48 mark of the first half made it a 17-13 game.

From there, the Redbirds got back-to-back treys from Bruninga and Yarbrough to push the visitors ahead by 10. MSU reeled off six unanswered points from there with Johnson scoring on a 3-point play and a transition bucket before Jarrid Rhodes tossed in a free throw to make it 23-19. But ISU ended the half on a 7-2 string to lead 30-21 at the game’s midway point.

Missouri State now takes to the rugged Valley road for its next two, starting Saturday at Loyola. The game against the first-place Ramblers (18-4, 8-2 MVC) starts at 1 p.m. on CBS Sports Network.

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