SPRINGFIELD – N.J. Benson tied a school record with 7 blocked shots and helped the Bears match the team record with 14 rejections as Missouri State turned back visiting Sam Houston, 69-60, in a wire-to-wire home victory.The Bears (7-3) were led by Donovan Clay’s 20 points and 4 assists, while Alston Mason poured in 18, and Damien Mayo matched a career-best with 13 points and 3 blocks of his own.Defensively, when the Bears weren’t blocking shots, they were altering them, holding the Bearkats to 29.8 percent from the field on the night, the lowest field goal percentage by a MSU foe since Valparaiso (.277) on March 5, 2021. Not surprisingly, Sam Houston accounted for 21 of its 60 points on second-chance opportunities and 13 more at the foul line.The wire-to-wire victories was the fourth of the season for Missouri State, which improved to 4-0 at Great Southern Bank Arena.In the first half, the Bears held Sam Houston to 25.7 percent from the field and blocked 6 shots to take a 31-23 lead at the midway point. Mason’s 9 first-half points led the way as his spinning bucket at the 5:48 mark put the Bears up 26-12 for their biggest lead of the opening stanza.MoState opened the second half on a 7-0 run to push ahead by 16 and then rode the momentum of a driving dunk by Chance Moore to take its biggest lead of the night, 47-30, with 13:56 to play.But after Moore’s dunk, Sam Houston went on a 10-2 run to close its deficit to 49-40 and eventually trimmed the Bears’ lead to six after a clutch bucket from Marcus Boykin.Missouri State responded with a layup by Mayo, a three-point play by Mason and a free throw by Clay to stretch the home club’s lead back to double-figures, 59-48 with just over four minutes remaining.After the last media timeout, the Bearkats had a four-point possession that made it 60-55 with 2:50 to play, and then subbed in a 90-percent free throw shooter, Davon Barnes, moments later to replace an injured 43-percent foul shooter, which made it 62-57 at the 2:25 mark.But the play of the night went to Clay, whose up-and-under transition layup with 99 seconds to play extended the MSU lead to eight and got the crowd back into the game. In the final minute, Mason, Clay and Mayo combined for four free throws to stretch the Bears’ lead back to 11 and put the visitors away for good.Sam Houston was led by Barnes’ 16 points, while Kian Scroggins had 10 points and a game-high 10 rebounds. The Bearkats finished 21-of-71 (.296) from the field, 5-of-19 (.263) from distance and 13-of-19 (.684) at the line with 6 steals.The Bears were an efficient 21-of-50 (.420) overall, 5-of-26 (.192) from long range and 22-for-29 (.759) at the stripe while matching Sam Houston on the glass, 42-42.Chance Moore’s 7 rebounds led the home side, while five different players contributed to the record-tying blocked shot total. Benson’s 7 rejections matched Scott Hawk (1977), Ricky Johnson (1983) and Gage Prim (2020) for the most blocks in a single-game.The Bears will return to the road in a week with a trip to Tulsa next Saturday at 2 p.m. It will mark the first meeting between MoState and Tulsa since 2015.The next home game will be on Tuesday, December 19 against Lindenwood at 7 p.m.
