SPRINGFIELD – A furious late-game comeback fell just short here Saturday as Missouri State (4-6) dropped a 74-67 road decision to North Dakota State.
The Bears trailed by 18 with 8:29 remaining but used an 8-0 run to cut their deficit to 10 just three minutes later. With 90 seconds to play, MSU had whittled its deficit to 69-65 after a driving layup by Josh Webster capped a 19-5 run by the visitors.
But the Bison (4-7) sandbagged six free throws in the final two minutes and got a key jumper from Vinnie Shahid with just over a minute to go to solidify the decision.
Shahid led all scorers with 19 points, including 8-of-9 at the free throw line.
As a team, the Bison went to the line 32 times and made more free throws (23) than field goals (22) on the night.
The Bears had five players score in double figures, led by senior Jarred Dixon’s 13 points. Tulio Da Silva scored 11, while Webster, Keandre Cook and Jared Ridder added 10 points apiece.
The game marked Ridder’s debut at Missouri State after sitting out the last three semesters to satisfy NCAA transfer requirements. He also had two steals, four rebounds and a pair of threes off the bench.
In the first half, NDSU made six of its last seven field goal attempts to take a 35-30 advantage into the intermission. Missouri State led 28-27 lead on a 3-pointer by Ridder with 2:25 left in the half, but the Bison used an 8-2 run over the final two minutes, including threes by Tyree Eady and Jordan Horn, to jump back ahead before the buzzer.
North Dakota State scored the first five points of the second half to open its lead to double figures for the first time before Dixon paused the NDSU momentum with a long 3-pointer from the left wing.
Midway through the final period, MSU reeled off seven unanswered points behind a dunk by Obediah Church, a deep triple by Ryan Kreklow and a steal and layup by Webster that made it a 54-46 game with just over 12 minutes to play.
But a decisive 10-0 outburst by the home side followed and gave North Dakota State its biggest lead of the game, 64-46, with 8:27 to play.
Missouri State then began chipping away again, first on a 3-pointer by Cook, then later on a traditional 3-point play by Da Silva, a pair of baskets by Webster, and a layup by Church. Over the span of the next seven minutes, the Bears held NDSU without a field goal and reeled off 19 of the game’s next 24 points in that stretch to get within 69-65 with 1:32 to go.
But as it did all night, the Bison got a key call with 22 seconds to play when it looked like Dixon would have a chance at a traditional 3-point play at the rim. However, instead of making it a three-point game, Dixon’s bucket was waived off, and he was whistled for a charge on the play.
NDSU added one more free throw for good measure to extend its final margin to seven.
Missouri State finished 28-of-67 (.418) from the field and set a season high for field goal attempts. The Bears were also 5-of-24 (.208) from three and 6-of-10 at the line with 13 steals and just 10 turnovers.
The Bison were 22-of-40 (.550) overall from the field, 7-for-16 (.438) from bonus distance and a decisive 23-of-32 (.719) at the stripe with a 33-30 rebounding edge.
The Bears will continue to look for their first road win of the campaign when they take on Arkansas State (4-6) on Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the team’s final non-conference road contest. MSU’s next home game is Saturday, Nov. 22 against UAPB at 1 p.m.
Tickets for the UAPB game are available now at MissouriStateBears.com or by visiting the Old Missouri Bank Box Office at JQH Arena, (417) 836-7678, during regular box office hours. The box office will be closed
