ST. LOUIS – The MVC Tournament semifinal game here Saturday was everything it was billed to be with Missouri State and Drake going toe-to-toe for 45 minutes through 12 ties and 17 lead changes before a winner was decided.
Drake’s Tucker DeVries, the MVC Freshman of the Year, made two free throws with 1.1 seconds left in overtime to lift Drake to a 79-78 win over the Bears and set up a rematch of last year’s Arch Madness championship against Loyola. He got to the line moments after Missouri State’s Gaige Prim gave the No. 2-seeded Bears a one-point lead on a close-range bucket at the rim.
Prim finished 7-for-9 from the field and racked up 21 points and 8 rebounds, while teammate and fellow All-MVC first teamer Isiaih Mosley scored a game-high 27. Donovan Clay was also on point all night, tallying 14 points and a game-high 10 rebounds.
DeVries led four Drake players in double figures with 23 points, including 8-for-8 at the line.
The Bears (23-10) took a five-point lead twice at the end of regulation, both on clutch buckets from Mosley. His two free throws with 2:09 to go gave MoState a 66-61 advantage and seemed to have the maroon side in a position to finish things off.
But Drake got to the free throw line five times in the two minutes with Roman Penn making all five charity shots for the Bulldogs (24-9). Penn drew a foul with two ticks on the shot clock with 27 seconds to go in regulation to put DU up by two and cap a 7-0 run.
Clay then came to the rescue for Missouri State, scoring the game-tying layup just before the final horn with 0.4 seconds to go, forcing overtime.
Mosley’s leaner to start overtime returned the lead to Missouri State, before the Drake gained the upper hand on two buckets by Tremell Murphy. Prim and Mosley both responded with game-tying moments before DeVries buried a 3-pointer with 1:28 to go, giving Drake a 77-74 advantage.
The Bears found yet another gear in the final minute of overtime, first with Clay scoring on a layup at the 55-second mark, then Prim putting MoState ahead 78-77 on a layup with 9.6 seconds left. Prim’s go-ahead score came on the heels of a missed 3-pointer by Penn, which caromed out of bounds to give MSU the ball with the shot clock off.
But with time winding down, and the Bears defending for their lives, a whistle decided their fate. The freshman DeVries was awarded a two-shot foul on a hasty foul call with 1.1 seconds to go, and he made both.
Missouri State’s last-ditch effort before the buzzer saw the Bears complete a 90-foot pass to Clay who out-leaped everyone, snagged the ball out of the air and got a shot off a desperation shot at the buzzer. His attempt was offline, and the defensive contact was ignored, leaving the Missouri State faithful dazed in the in the wake of a game that was within their grasp moments earlier.
The Bears shot 50.3 percent from the field on 30-of-59 field goal attempts, just one field goal shy of a team record in the tournament. MSU made just 3-of-16 (.188) from distance, however, and left some points at the line on 15-of-20 (.750) free throws. MSU out-rebounded the Bulldogs, 39-35 and committee an uncharacteristic 14 turnovers.
With his 27-point effort, Mosley moved into third place on MSU’s single-season scoring list with 664 points.
Drake was held to 40.6 percent overall (28-of-69), 6-of-24 (.250) from long range and 17-of-19 (.985) at the stripe. DU committed just 5 turnovers on the night and racked up 17 second-chance points behind 13 offensive caroms.
In the opening half, there were four ties and 10 lead changes, but the Bears’ defense held Drake to just 36 percent from the field to lead 33-32 at the midway point. Mosley produced just under half of MSU’s points, going for 15 in the opening stanza, while Clay had 6 points and 6 rebounds.
Drake kept pace with 10 second-chance points from its six offensive boards in the first half, but it was Isaac Haney’s put-back off a Clay miss with 24 seconds left to push the Bears up by one at the break.
