CEDAR FALLS, Iowa – Missouri State got 24 points and 11 rebounds from Dalen Ridgnal and shot 55 percent from the field to dominate home-standing Northern Iowa, 79-67, here Wednesday for a key Missouri Valley Conference road win.
The Bears (6-7, 2-1 MVC) also got double-figure scoring efforts from Kendle Moore with 15 points, Chance Moore with 13 and Jonathan Mogbo with 10 points and 4 assists.
The Panthers (5-8, 1-2) saw their two-game win streak end with Bowen Born scoring a team-high 21 points, while Tytan Anderson scored 15 points and snagged 6 boards
The Bears extended an 11-point halftime lead with a three from Ridgnal and a layup from Mogbo that ultimately led to a quick timeout by the Panthers. Less than five minutes later, Mogbo forced another UNI timeout on back-to-back layups that pushed the Bears up 55-37 with just under 12 minutes to play.
The Bears burned a timeout with 9:45 to go, but after the timeout, Ridgnal lit up two more 3-pointers to give MSU its biggest lead of the night, 64-42, and matched that on a steal and dunk by Donovan Clay with 3:08 remaining that made it 76-54.
Down the stretch, the Panthers were active in the back court and racked up three of their six steals in the game in the final three minutes to chip away and use a 9-0 run to make it 76-63 inside two minutes.
But the Bears weathered the storm with Kendle Moore and Ridgnal hitting clutch free throws to put the win on ice.
It marked Missouri State’s 23rd MVC road win of the Dana Ford era and the 750th win for the Missouri State program since the move to Division I status in 1982-83.
Missouri State hit the 50-percent mark for the third straight game, making 29-of-53 (.547) shots overall and burying 11-of-24 (.458) from long range. The Bears were also 10-of-14 (.714) from the line with 14 assists and 9 steals.
UNI finished 26-of-55 (.473) overall, 6-of-21 (.286) from downtown and 9-of-14 (.643) at the stripe. The Panthers out-rebounded the Bears by a narrow 30-29 margin and committed 15 turnovers.
In the first half, both teams shot 60 percent from the field, but Kendle Moore’s 11 points and no second-chance points for the Panthers led to a 40-29 Bears advantage at the midway point. Missouri State turned a four-point advantage into a nine-point lead late in the opening half with a 10-2 run that started with a three by Kendle Moore and ended with five points from Chance Moore.
Coming out of an MSU timeout with 2:39 to go in the half, MSU exploded for another 7-0 outburst to push ahead by 14, its largest of the stanza. An alley-oop dunk to Ridgnal kicked off the outburst before Mayo scored from close range, and Kendle Moore’s third trey of the half made it a 40-26 contest.
Born, who came into the night leading the league in scoring, ended the first half with a contested three from the right wing to make it a 40-29 contest halfway through.
Missouri State will return to Great Southern Bank Arena on Sunday for a 2 p.m. showdown with preseason Valley favorite Drake to start a two-game home stand.
