NASSAU, The Bahamas – Five Missouri State players scored in double figures, and the Bears shot 56 percent from the field in the second half to dispatch Oakland, 76-64, here Sunday in the seventh-place game of the Baha Mar Hoops Nassau Championship.
The Bears (3-3), who ran into second-half scoring droughts in their first two games of the tournament, left nothing to risk Sunday. After going into the half tied, 33-33, MSU opened the second stanza on an 18-3 run, forcing two Oakland timeouts and seizing a 15-point lead for the first time on a three from Kendle Moore less than six minutes into the final period.
Missouri State racked up a dozen threes on the afternoon, including four from Bryan Trimble Jr., who reached career trey No. 200 in the win. He finished with a team-high 14 points, while Moore scored 13, and James Graham added a career-high 13 in reserve.
Donovan Clay added 11 points in the win, and Alston Mason scored 10 while sharing the team lead in assists with four. Damien Mayo Jr. and Kendle Moore also dished out four assists apiece as part of a 19-assist game for the maroon side.
With just under eight minutes to play, Graham’s dunk sparked another MSU run as Mason tacked on a pair of treys, and Clay racked up two high-percentage shots at the rim to give MSU a 72-51 advantage with 4:46 remaining.
The 10-3 mini-run covered three minutes and put the icing on the cake for the Missouri State victory.
From there, former Bear Keaton Hervey scored Oakland’s next 11 points with the game already in hand, giving him a game-high 24 points to lead the Golden Grizzlies (2-6) from the Horizon League.
Missouri State just missed a 50-percent shooting effort, firing 30-of-61 (.492) overall and 12-for-29 (.414) from long range. MSU also owned a 33-28 rebounding advantage.
The Bears collected 36 points in the paint, their most since opening night, and posted 19 points off 14 Oakland turnovers.
Oakland was 23-of-50 (.460) overall, 10-for-25 (.400) from downtown and 8-of-12 (.667) at the line.
In the first half, the Bears got off to a slow start, making just two of their first 11 shots, but finished the opening stanza with some momentum. After trailing 23-13 with 8:39 left in the period, MSU outscored Oakland by a 20-10 margin down the stretch, making 10-of-18 shots in that span, to knot things up, 33-33, at the midway point.
Kendle Moore and Trimble Jr. each scored eight points in the opening half, with Graham burying a pair of key 3-pointers in the final two minutes to stage the comeback.
Missouri State will remain on the road in order to reach its next destination in time for Wednesday’s Missouri Valley Conference opener at league newcomer Illinois-Chicago (7 p.m., ESPN+). MSU has not played UIC, a former league foe in the Mid-Continent Conference, since 2001.
After the eight-day road swing, the Bears return home on Saturday, Dec. 3 to host Bradley at Great Southern Bank Arena. Tickets for the Bradley game are available at MissouriStateBears.com or by visiting the arena box office, (417) 836-7678, during regular box office hours.
