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All 11 Missouri State players in uniform found the scoring column, including a team-high 13 points by Jarred Dixon, to lead the Bears (5-2) past visiting NAIA Evangel, 80-48, here Friday.
J.T. Miller, Obediah Church and Reggie Scurry also added 10 points apiece for MSU, which shot an even 50 percent from the field and out-rebounded the Crusaders by a 50-29 margin.
The game was the home guarantee as part of MSU’s entry into the recently-completed Gulf Coast Showcase in Florida. It was also the Bears’ fourth game in a five-day span.
Paul Lusk’s club led wire-to-wire and jumped out of the gates to a 20-5 lead in the first 10 minutes. A close-range by Miller just over two minutes in gave the transfer from Howard University his 1,000th career point.
Nearly 13 minutes into the game, the Bears opened up a 21-point advantage on a traditional 3-point play by Church, who snagged a game-high 10 rebounds for his second career double-double.
Evangel (1-7) responded with an 8-0 run powered by Jalen Norman and Justin Washington to get its deficit back to 13.
But right before the intermission, the home club rallied again, getting a dunk by Scurry to start things before a dunk-back by Church and a trey by Dixon – his first of three on the night.
The second half proved much the same with Ross Owens giving the Bears their first 30-point lead on a mid-range jumper at the 8:06 mark. Owens and Ryan Kreklow added triples in the final five minutes before Scurry put MSU over 80 points for the third time this season with a close-range bucket in the final minute.
The Bears knocked down eight 3-pointers for the game, their most since Nov. 15 against Southern, and accounted for 44 points in the paint and 34 bench points in picking up their third straight win.
Kreklow led MSU with 4 assists, Mustafa Lawrence tallied 3 steals, and Church added 5 blocked shots to his already-impressive stat line.
Evangel was led by Washington’s game-high 19 points on 8-of-24 shooting and a team-high 6 rebounds.
MSU begins another busy week with a home game at JQH Arena Tuesday evening against Colorado State at 7 p.m. The game is part of the Mountain West-Missouri Valley Challenge.
