ST. LOUIS – Behind a dominant second-half effort, Missouri State defeated UIC, 74-57, here Thursday in the opening round of the Missouri Valley Conference Men’s Basketball Tournament.
After leading by four at the half, the Bears (17-14) shot 55.2 percent from the field in the final stanza and got a game-high 17 points from Alston Mason, 15 from Jonathan Mogbo and 13 by Damien Mayo Jr. to secure the win.
Missouri State outscored the No. 11-seeded Flames by a 40-27 margin in the second half. All 13 of Mayo’s points came in the final period and matched a season scoring high. The freshman also snagged 6 rebounds.
With the Bears leading 40-34 with 18:33 to go, Mayo took over. The freshman reeled off Missouri State’s next 11 points over the next five minutes to extend the lead to 51-38. Following a dunk by Mogbo and a 3-pointer from James Graham, the Bears pushed ahead by 16 – their largest lead of the night to that point.
Still UIC (12-20) made one last surge and cut its deficit to single digits with back-to-back layups from Jace Carter whose dunk with 5:07 to play made it a 62-53 contest.
Missouri State responded with a layup from Mayo and a dunk from Mogbo – his fifth dunk of the night and 42nd of the season, which tied a Bears’ single-season record.
Down the stretch, Graham put things on ice with back-to-back 3-pointers in the final 75 seconds, while Mason’s two free throws moments later gave the Bears their largest lead of the game and extended the final margin to 17.
The Bears shot 49.2 percent for the game on 29-of-59 field goals, while converting 9-of-25 (.360) from long range and 7-of-13 (.538) at the foul line. MoState held a 39-30 rebounding advantage and turned the ball over just six times – a season low.
Donovan Clay snagged a team-high 7 rebounds and dished out 6 assists, both tops on the MSU roster Thursday.
UIC was led by Carter’s 14 points, while Christian Jones tallied 12 in reserve. The Flames finished 23-of-58 (.397) overall, 5-of-22 (.227) from distance and 6-of-12 (.500) at the line with 7 turnovers.
In the first half, the Bears never trailed and held UIC to 38.7 percent shooting to lead 34-30. Alston Mason and Kendle Moore scored 9 points apiece to lead the No. 6-seeded Bears who led by as many as nine on two occasions.
The Bears will take the No. 3 seed Southern Illinois in the State Farm MVC Tourament quarterfinals on Friday at 8:30 p.m
