NASSAU, The Bahamas – In a wild, roller-coaster second half, Missouri State came up just short against Ball State here Saturday, falling 67-64, despite a courageous effort in the game’s final minute.
With 59 seconds to go, the Bears trailed by 10 and had not made a field goal in 11 minutes. But then something clicked.
Alston Mason’s spinning layup at the 54-second mark ended the dry stretch for Missouri State, then Jonathan Mogbo’s dunk after a Ball State turnover made it a 66-60 game. The Bears then took the ball away again with Mason snagging a steal and layup with 31 ticks to go.
Donovan Clay then snatched another Bears’ steal on the ensuing play, but couldn’t capitalize. However, a Ball State traveling call with 16 seconds left in the game gave the Bears the ball back, and this time Clay converted with a put-back off a Mason missed three to make it a 66-64 game.
Needing to foul with just under 10 seconds left, the Bears put 50-percent foul shooter Payton Sparks on the line. Sparks made one of his two charity shots to make it a three-point game and keep MoState in the game on its final possession.
But the final-minute magic ran out on the Springfield team on its final possession of the afternoon. Clay’s drive to the rim with two seconds to go certainly drew contact. But with no whistle, the missed layup led to a scrum for the rebound, and ultimately left Kendle Moore with the ball in no-man’s land. Unable to get the ball behind the arc to attempt a three, the Bears ran out of time and the clock struck zero in a hard-fought, three-point defeat.
Chance Moore scored 14 points in just under 14 minutes to lead MSU (2-3), while Mason added 12 points. Clay was MSU’s top rebounder with 6 caroms to go with 3 assists and a pair of steals.
Sparks led Ball State (4-2) with 24 points and 12 rebounds, while Jarron Coleman and Demarius Jacobs added 10 points apiece for the Cardinals.
The Bears led by three at the intermission, and held the advantage until the 8-minute mark when Clay’s free throw made it a 53-53 game. Ball State then throttled the momentum away, going on a 12-3 run over the next six minutes to lead by nine and then taking a 66-56 lead on a Sparks free throw with 59 seconds left.
The Bears finished the game 9-of-21 from 3-point range (.429) and converted 23-of-54 (.426) shots overall. MSU was out-rebounded by a narrow 32-31 margin and struggled at the line for the second straight day, making 9-of-16 (.543) from the stripe with 14 turnovers.
Ball State was 23-of-51 (.451) overall, 8-of-18 (.444) from bonus distance and 13-for-21 (.619) at the line. The Cardinals also had 14 turnovers.
In the first half, Missouri State shot 58 percent and connected on 7-of-10 threes to take a 38-35 advantage into the break. Chance Moore emerged with 13 points in the opening 20 minutes with Bryan Trimble Jr. adding nine, all on treys.
The Bears answered a Ball State 10-0 run midway through the opening stanza with an 8-0 run of their own moments later. Threes by Trimble and Chance Moore preceded a layup by N.J. Benson to push MSU back on top 30-23 with 4:44 to go before the intermission. Later, Moore’s back-to-back scores gave the Bears their biggest lead of the half, 38-27, with just under two minute on the clock.
With the loss, Missouri State matches up with the loser of San Jose State and Oakland in the seventh-place game on Sunday at 11 a.m. (Central).
