SPRINGFIELD – Missouri State got 21 points from Keandre Cook and 16 from Gaige Prim to turn back Missouri Valley Conference co-leader Loyola, 74-62, here Saturday and give the Bears (14-15, 8-8) their fourth double-figure win in six games.
Loyola (19-10, 11-5) got 16 points off the bench from Marquise Kennedy to lead the Ramblers.
Missouri State jumped out to a 9-0 lead from the outset and extended its advantage to double figures on back-to-back triples from Ja’Monta Black and Josh Hall seven minutes in. Hall’s free throw later in the opening half, gave the Bears their biggest lead of the opening period, 31-13. Then, just before the intermission, Cook drained his first of two triples on the afternoon, and Da Silva scored on a put-back at the buzzer to give MSU a 41-23 lead at the midway point.
In the second half, Loyola made a quick run at the home squad, taking advantage of a 2-for-14 start from the field by the Bears to make it an eight-point game, 45-37 with 12:33 to play. Hall and Mosely responded to lead a Missouri State resurgence, scoring the Bears’ next 10 points before Cook’s 3-pointer at the 9:32 mark pushed MSU ahead 57-42.
Missouri State held its own from there, and with 54 total fouls in the contest, the final six minutes became a free-throw shooting contest. The Bears made 9-of-10 from the charity stripe down the stretch, while Loyola made 7-of-11.
Prim led all players with 9 rebounds and 3 blocks in the contest while dishing out 3 assists which was matched by teammates Ross Owens, and Hall. It was also Cook’s 11th 20-point effort as a Bear.
For the game, MSU finished 24-of-58 (.414) from the field, 7-of-21 (.333) from long range, and 19-of-26 (.731) from the foul line with a 35-26 rebounding advantage and just 11 turnovers.
Loyola, which also got 11 points from Cameron Krutwig and Keith Clemons, made 20-of-40 (.500) shots overall, 4-of-11 (.364) from long range and 18-of-30 (.600) at the stripe with 17 turnovers.
It was just the fourth wire-to-wire victory for Missouri State, which improved to 10-4 at JQH Arena this season.
With just two games remaining on the MVC schedule before the conference tournament in St. Louis, the Bears will embark on their final road game of the season Tuesday at Valparaiso (7 p.m.). MSU then returns to JQH Arena on Saturday, Feb. 29 against Southern Illinois (3 p.m.) on senior night.
