For the second game in a row, Missouri State junior Dequon Miller beat the buzzer with a clutch game-winning shot, knocking down a jumper with 3.4 seconds to go and lifting the Bears to a 56-54 victory over Loyola here Saturday in a Missouri Valley Conference thriller.
The Bears (6-10, 2-2) got 16 points from Miller who also had 4 assists, while Camyn Boone added 12 points and a game-high 9 rebounds, while Obediah Church contributed 10 points.
Loyola (7-9, 0-4) got 18 points from Earl Peterson and 13 from Milton Doyle.
MSU trailed 29-23 at halftime, and Loyola came out of the locker room to score the first two buckets of the second period and pull ahead 33-23 with 19 minutes to go. But MSU responded with a 6-0 outburst led by two dunks from Church and a close-range jumper by fellow freshman Jarred Dixon.
By the 14:36 mark, the Bears had extended their run to 14-14 and tied the game at 37-37. MSU then retook the lead on a clutch trey by Ryan Kreklow with 11:31 to go. Missouri State later built its advantage to 52-45 after Boone made one of two foul shots at the 3:50 mark.
Loyola then started to make its move, getting a pair of foul shots from Doyle before a Peterson jumper made it a 52-49 game at the two-minute mark. Peterson got it to a one-point game with another free throw on the Ramblers’ next trip, and then Miller stopped the bleeding for the visiting side with a rim-rolling layup with 79 seconds to play.
In the final minute, Peterson made one-of-two free throws with 22 seconds to go, to make it 54-52, but Doyle stole the ensuing in-bound pass and scored to tie the game with 9 ticks to play.
But similar to what he did in Wednesday’s win over Northern Iowa, Miller rallied the visitors, beating the buzzer with a short-range jumper from the right side, and Loyola’s desperation shot in the final moments did not get off before the final horn.
MSU shot 56 percent in the second half and overcame a double-figure second-half deficit for the second straight conference game to get back to the .500 mark in Valley play. The Bears also scored 20 of their 33 second-half points in the paint and got half their 56 points from their four freshman players.
The MVC road win was the Bears’ first since winning the conference opener at Southern Illinois last season. But this victory was much different with the youthful maroon and white squad rallying from a sizeable deficit on the road and then getting a number of key second-half stops to keep their composure and mount the comeback.
MSU finished 22-for-46 (.478) from the field, 5-of-13 (.385) from bonus distance and 7-of-11 (.636) at the stripe with a 27-26 rebounding advantage and 14 turnovers.
Loyola, which led for 18 minutes, made just 9 field goals in the second half and finished 22-for-48 (.458) overall but just 3-for-13 (.231) from 3-point range with just 1-of-7 bonus conversion in the second stanza. The Ramblers were also 7-of-11 at the stripe and committed 13 turnovers.
In the first half, the Bears led 18-15 with just over six minutes left in the opening period before the Ramblers went on a 14-5 run to close it out. After a layup by Church put MSU up by three points at the 6:08 mark, Loyola reeled off 10 straight points before a 3-pointer by Dixon ended the MSU drought.
Boone sat the final seven minutes of the first half after picking up his second foul, while Chris Kendrix was a last-minute scratch from the lineup after suffering back spasms during pregame warmups.
The Bears return to JQH Arena in Springfield on Wednesday night for an 8 p.m. tipoff against MVC co-leader Wichita State (10-5, 4-0).
