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Missouri State’s Alize Johnson posted game highs with 23 points and 20 rebounds, but it wasn’t quite enough as the home standing Bears dropped a 57-54 decision here Friday to visiting North Dakota State.
NDSU (1-2) was led by A.J. Jacobson with 14 points, including three first-half 3-pointers.
After trailing by as many as 10 in the first half, MSU took charge out of the gates in the second stanza and led by as many as five. With less than four minutes to go in the game, the Bears went up 51-48 on a jumper by Ronnie Rousseau III but could not convert another field goal down the stretch.
NDSU tied the game, 52-52, on a floater by Jacobson with 2:58 remaining and then crept ahead by two on a pair of foul shots by Tyson Ward a minute later. MSU’s Ryan Kreklow sank two clutch charity shots of his own at the 1:54 mark to knot the score for the last time, 54-54.
The Bison gained the edge on two free throws by Jacobson, and then both clubs went cold in the final 90 seconds.
Missouri State missed five straight field goal attempts, most highly contested near the rim, but it was the final shot of the night that looked like it might bail out the home club. With NDSU creeping ahead by three on a foul shot by Ward with 8.5 ticks showing, Johnson brought the ball down the court and picked up his dribble with time winding down. He found a streaking Jarrid Rhodes whose potential game-tying 3-pointer from the right wing looked on target, but just rimmed out as the final horn sounded.
The defensive battle was a sour grape in an otherwise excellent first week of the season for Coach Paul Lusk’s Bears.
“This was like a (Missouri) Valley game,” Lusk said. “And we knew it would be. We knew we couldn’t afford to make a mistake on the defensive end. They make you guard for 25-26 seconds every possession, and I thought we did some really good things to limit their offensive production.”
The Bison converted just 22-of-56 (.393) shots on the night with a dozen turnovers, but the usually hot-handed Bears could not overcome it with a cold-shooting night of their own.
Johnson was 8-of-21, and Reggie Scurry was 4-for-9 from the field, but the rest of the Bears combined to go 8-for-31 in a classic, defensive battle. For the night, MSU converted 32.8 percent overall and just 1-of-17 from long range.
Johnson’s 20 rebounds was just one shy of a career high in his second straight double-double of the young campaign.
The Bears started the night in hibernation, missing their first three shots before Johnson converted a fast-break layup for the first points of the game nearly three-and-a-half minutes in.
Rhodes and Obediah Church followed suit to give MSU a 6-2 lead out of the gates as the Bison missed nine of their first 10 attempts.
After a Ryan Kreklow jumper at the 12:38 mark put the Bears up 8-5, NDSU went on a 14-1 run over the next six minutes to take a 19-9 advantage. MSU ended the dry spell with back-to-back buckets by Johnson, including a steal and layup to get within six.
After Jacobson’s third trey of the opening half gave NDSU a 22-13 lead with just over five minutes to go, the Bears ended the stanza on a 9-2 run to get within 24-22 at the intermission. Church, Scurry and Jarred Dixon led the surge, including a huge triple by Dixon with 30 seconds to go before the break.
The Bears continue their November schedule blitz with three games Monday through Wednesday at the Gulf Coast Showcase in Estero, Fla. Monday’s game against Georgia Southern (3-0) tips at 12:30 p.m. (Central). The event is being streamed through an online subscription service at FloHoops.com.
MSU returns to JQH Arena the day after Thanksgiving to take on cross-town foe Evangel at 7 p.m. Tickets for the Evangel game are on sale now at MissouriStateBears.com or at the Old Missouri Bank Box Office at JQH Arena — (417) 836-7678 – during regular box office hours.
