Bears suffer first Valley loss at Illinois St

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Illinois State scored 10 points in the final two minutes and rallied to overcome a late Missouri State lead in a 72-68 Redbird victory in Missouri Valley Conference play here Sunday.

MSU (13-4, 3-1 MVC) was led by Alize Johnson, Ronnie Rousseau III and J.T. Miller with 16 points apiece. Johnson, 12, and Miller, 11, were also in double-figures on the boards, marking Johnson’s fifth straight-double double and his 11th of the year, while Miller notched his first-ever double-double.

MSU committed a season-high 18 turnovers, including 11 in the first half, which helped put the Bears in a 10-point deficit with just over 17 minutes to play.

However, solid defensive pressure from there gave Missouri State a chance, holding ISU to just four field goals in its first 17 attempts of the second half. Meanwhile, a 3-pointer by Jarred Dixon with nine minutes left got the Bears within 51-49, and three minutes later, a tip-in by Miller made it a 54-53 game.

The Bears were finally able to overcome the ample free throw chances by ISU with 4:33 to go as Miller scored on a put-back after a missed Bears’ 3-pointer. His two free throws less than a minute later gave Missouri State a 59-56 advantage with 3:46 to play.

But, Illinois State rallied with a pair of free throws, then tied the game on a close-range bucket by Malik Yarbrough with 2:35 to go. Rousseau gave the lead back to the visitors on a driving layup at the 2:20 mark, but ISU’s Phil Fayne knotted the score for the fourth and final time, 62-62, on an alley-oop dunk with just under two minutes remaining.

The Redbirds turned to Fayne on their next two possessions for close-range shots and then made 6-of-9 from the stripe down the stretch to seal the win, extending their MVC home win streak to 16 straight.

For their part, Missouri State never surrendered in crunch time. Rousseau’s 3-pointer from the corner with 8 seconds to go would have made it a two-point game, but video replay review changed the bucket to a two-pointer. Rousseau had another jumper down the stretch, and Dixon had a big layup that made it 70-68 with 1.4 seconds to go.

MSU’s final attempt to stop the clock, a foul by Miller, was ruled as a flagrant foul, giving ISU two shots and the ball. As it turned out, Fayne – who was 9-of-10 at the stripe – missed his final attempt, which would have given the Bears the ball down three. Instead, the Bears had to foul again, and Yarbrough put it out of reach with one make.

Fayne and Yabrough finished with 23 points apiece for the Redbirds (9-7, 3-1 MVC).

Missouri State out-rebounded ISU by a 40-27 margin and didn’t allow the Redbirds any offensive rebounds in the second half after they tallied 13 second-chance points in the first half.

The game started promising with MSU knocking down four treys before the first media timeout, including three by Johnson as the Bears built a 12-5 lead. ISU then reeled off 15 of the game’s next 19 points to lead 20-16. Miller then broke the home club’s momentum with a 3-pointer of his own to make it a 20-19 game.

Midway through the opening half, ISU used another big run to push ahead by nine, posting eight unanswered points to lead 28-19.

Using the long ball again, the Bears responded with a 10-3 swing after a traditional 3-point play by Johnson and seven straight points by Rousseau to make it 31-29 with 3:33 left in the first half.

But ISU ended the half on its third significant run of the opening stanza, getting four of seven points on the run from Yarbrough to go into the intermission leading 38-29.

Illinois State finished 20-of-25 (.800) from the free throw line, but were held to 23-of-57 (.404) from the field and 6-of-21 (.286) from three.

MSU was 25-of-54 (.463) overall and 9-for-27 (.333) from bonus range. The Bears had just 13 foul shots, making nine (.692).

Missouri State concludes a two-game Valley road swing Wednesday at Evansville (11-6, 1-3 MVC), a game that will air on the Missouri State Television Network at 7 p.m.

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