Missouri State’s Dez White scored a career-high 30 points for the Bears, but visiting Indiana State got a clutch layup from Jaden Daughtry with 12 seconds left in the game to push the visitors to an 80-77 victory here Saturday in the Missouri Valley Conference opener for both clubs.
White finished 9-of-18 from the field with five treys and five assists to lead MoState (5-4, 0-1 MVC). Michael Osei-Bonsu notched his first double-double of the season with 13 points and 10 rebounds for the home side, while Vincent Brady II pitched in 15 points in his return to the rotation, and Jalen Hampton added 11 off the bench.
Indiana State (6-4, 1-0 MVC) was led by 23 points from Samage Teel and 20 from Daughtry. Teel hit three of ISU’s 10 threes on the night.
After leading by four at the intermission, the Bears converted a pair of early second-half baskets from Osei-Bonsu and Brady to stretch their lead to 44-36 just over a minute into the final stanza.
Indiana State responded with its biggest run of the contest over the next three minutes, going 4-for-4 from the field as part of an 11-0 surge to retake the lead 47-44 before the under-16 timeout.
White wasted little time putting a charge into the Great Southern Bank Arena gathering coming out of a MoState timeout with a corner three as the shot clock expired to knot things up at 47. ISU answered with a quick bucket from Daughtry before Hampton’s two charity shots made it 49-49 with 15:26 on the clock.
The Sycamores would hold that lead for the next 10 minutes, stretching their advantage to as many as seven and later getting a transition triple from Jayan Walker to make it a 66-60 game with seven-and-a-half minutes remaining.
But a 9-2 Missouri State run over the next three minutes gave the maroon side fresh hope as the Bears held the lead twice more. Osei-Bonsu’s left-handed layup and Brady’s close-range bucket both restored one-point leads for the home squad, but subsequent three-pointers from ISU’s K’Mani Doughty and Josiah LeGree made it 74-69 heading into the final media break.
Down the stretch, the Bears kept clawing with Brady’s free throw, White’s elbow jumper and Osei-Bonsu’s bunny at the rim all making it a one-possession game.
In the final minute, a dunk by Daughtry gave ISU a four-point cushion but Brady’s third trey of the night made it a one-point game with 38 seconds left, putting the Bears in a position of needing one more defensive stop to have the ball down by one.
Unfortunately, Daughtry got loose with just four seconds left on the shot clock and scored on a layup with 12 seconds to go which extended ISU’s lead to three. The Bears got a look at two potential game-tying three-pointers in the final moments of the game with long shots by White and Zaxton King narrowly missing to end an otherwise-valiant comeback effort by Missouri State.
The game included nine lead changes – five in the second half — and five ties. Indiana State shot 57.1 percent for the game made 17-of-25 field goals (.680) in the final 20 minutes. The Sycamores made 10 threes from seven different players.
The Bears were 26-of-58 (.448) overall, 8-of-22 (.364) from long range and 17-for-27 (.630) at the line with a 34-31 rebounding advantage and 11 steals.
In the first half, the Bears used a 10-0 run over a key two-minute stretch late in the half to take a 33-26 lead. MoState held that seven-point margin and made 5 of its last 6 field goal attempts to end the half, but ISU’s three from Merritt Alderink in the final 30 seconds made it a 40-36 game at the midway point.
Missouri State is off for finals this week before embarking on its final non-conference road game of the season at Washington State next Saturday (Dec. 14) at 4 p.m. (Central) in Pullman, Wash.
The Bears return home on Wednesday, Dec. 18 to square off with Lincoln at 8 p.m.
