Alize Johnson had game highs with 20 points and 14 rebounds to pace Missouri State (7-2) past South Dakota State, 73-53, here Saturday, extending MSU’s win streak to five games.
The Bears shot 48.4 percent from the field and never trailed, marking the club’s third straight wire-to-wire victory.
After Missouri State ended the first half on a 7-0 run to lead 43-26 at the midway point, South Dakota State (7-3) scored the first five points of the second half to get back within 12.
The Jackrabbits closed their deficit to 10 twice from there, first on a traditional 3-point play by Brandon Key with just over 13 minutes to play, and then on a close-range bucket by Tevin King at the 12:41 mark.
But MSU had an answer for the surge by SDSU, which was playing just 58 miles from its campus in Brookings. J.T. Miller started a 10-2 run by the Bears over the next three minutes that included three jumpers by Reggie Scurry to give MSU its biggest lead to that point, 58-40, midway through the second half.
King then went on a personal 5-0 run for the Jackrabbits to make it 58-45, but MSU’s defense would hold SDSU without a field goal for most of the next six minutes while pushing ahead by as many as 22 with close-range buckets from Miller, Johnson and Obediah Church down the stretch.
Scurry finished with 14 points in 15 minutes, while Church was a perfect 3-for-3 from the field to account for 6 points and 6 rebounds. With four first-half 3-pointers, Jarrid Rhodes also finished in double figures for MSU with 12 points.
King led South Dakota State’s efforts with 13 points, while Reed Tellinghuisen has 12 points. Highly-touted NBA prospect Mike Daum finished 3-for-14 from the field for 7 points and just 3 rebounds.
The Bears set a blistering pace in the first half, shooting 51.6 percent from the field with 9 treys to lead by 17 at the intermission.
Johnson knocked down two 3-pointers in the first two minutes of the game to set the early standard. Around the five-minute mark, Ryan Kreklow and Rhodes drained long-range bombs after Johnson’s third triple to push the Bears up 34-21. Finally after an MSU timeout with 1:38 left in the opening stanza, MSU came out with a layup by Church, a triple by Rhodes – his fourth of the half – and a buzzer-beating jumper by Kreklow to lead 43-26 at the midway point.
MSU returns to action Monday in Fargo for a rematch with North Dakota State (3-4) at 7 p.m. The Bison defeated the Bears, 57-54, at JQH Arena on Nov. 17.
Monday’s game will also be part of the MSU Television Network package with a shared feed to ESPN3.
