Game Highlights
Head Coach Dana Ford postgame
Donovan Clay & Chance Moore postgame:
SPRINGFIELD – Chance Moore scored a career-high 28 points and knocked down five 3-pointers to help lift Missouri State to a 90-78 win over visiting Evansville in the MVC opener for both teams here Wednesday.
Moore also snagged 8 rebounds and went 7-for-7 at the line to lead four MoState players in double figures. The Bears (6-1, 1-0) also got 20 points from MVC Player of the Week Matthew Lee, while Donovan Clay scored 19, and N.J. Benson tallied 16 points and a game-high 13 rebounds. Lee also dished out 8 assists.
Evansville (6-1, 0-1) was led by Chuck Bailey’s 27 points on 10-of-17 shooting, while Ben Humrichous added 14 points behind a pair of 3-pointers for the visitors.
Back-to-back dunks from Benson expanded Missouri State’s 14-point halftime lead to 18 early in the second half. The Missouri State advantage swelled to 23 points after the under-12 media timeout with Moore knocking down a 3-pointer and a layup before a pair of free throw from Lee made it 61-38 with 11:49 to play.
The next six minutes were physical at times with the Aces trying to claw their way back into the contest with scattered shooting and smothering defense. But the Bears weathered the strom, collecting 10 free throws in that span to ward off a pair of triples from Gage Bobe and another long bomb from Kenny Strawbridge.
Benson’s fourth dunk of the night, and Chance Moore’s last trey gave the Bears a 19-point lead. Then, Lee’s reverse layup heading into the final media timeout pushed the maroon side ahead 78-59.
The Bears tried to run some clock and overcome UE’s defensive pressure down the stretch, making 8-of-9 free throws and getting a coast-to-cast layup from Clay and an exclamation point dunk by Cesare Edwards with seven seconds left to maintain the double-figure win.
Evansville scored nine points in the game’s final 73 seconds, including a trey from Bailey.
The Bears finished 28-of-59 (.475) overall from the field and 9-of-23 (.391) from bonus distance. MSU also was 25-for-32 (.781) at the line with a 42-32 rebounding advantage and 9 steals and 6 blocks.
Evansville finished the night 29-of-68 (.426) from the field, 10-for-30 (.333) from 3-point range and 10-of-14 (.714) at the line with 13 turnovers.
In the first half, the Bears held Evansville to 2-for-12 over the last six minutes of the stanza to lead by as many as 16 and take a 44-30 lead into the intermission. Moore knocked down three triples and scored 16 points, while Benson had an electrifying dunk to ignite a 17-2 run during the Aces’ drought. Benson had 8 points and 9 rebounds in the first 20 minutes with the Bears out-rebounding the visitors by a 24-16 margin in that span.
The Bears will continue their two-game Valley stretch on Saturday afternoon at league-favorite Drake (3 p.m.) before resuming non-conference play next Tuesday at Middle Tennessee. The Bears will be back at Great Southern Bank Arena on Saturday, Dec. 9 to square off with Sam Houston at 6 p.m. on Art Hains Day.
