ST. LOUIS – No. 5-seeded Illinois State shot 51 percent from the field, buried 10 three-pointers and used a 15-2 run late in the first half to help turn back Missouri State, 70-54, here Thursday in the opening round of the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament.
The Bears (9-23) were led by Michael Osei-Bonsu and Vincent Brady II with 10 points apiece. The tandem also combined for 13 rebounds to help MoState achieve a 34-32 rebounding advantage on the afternoon.
For the 12th-seeded Bears in their final appearance at Arch Madness, the game got away in the final four-and-a-half minutes of the first half. After Osei-Bonsu’s bucket with 4:34 to go before the intermission made it a 23-21 game, the Bears would finish out the stanza on a 1-for-7 stretch on the offensive end, while the Redbirds pushed ahead 38-23 at the intermission.
By the time Chase Walker opened the second half with a close-range bucket and Dalton Banks buried a triple for the Redbirds, ISU racked up nine straight successful field goals to lead 43-27 two minutes into the second half.
The Bears’ defense strung together a run of four forced turnovers and two blocked shots on six straight ISU possessions to give the Bears life with 13:01 remaining. A pair of Brady free throws and jumper by Mozae Downing-Rivers pulled MSU with 45-33.
But the Redbirds cashed in three treys from Malachi Poindexter and Landon Wolf as part of an 11-2 surge to stretch Illinois State’s lead to 56-35 with 8:46 to play.
MSU senior Wesley Oba would close out the final minute of the game with a dunk and a put-back to finish with 6 points and 6 rebounds in his final collegiate appearance and close the final margin to 16.
For the game, the Bears finished 20-of-58 (.345) from the field, 5-for-19 (.263) from three and 9-of-12 (.750) from the line. Zaxton King dished out a team-high 3 assists for the Bears with Brady knocking down two 3-pointers, and Chase Martin’s 7 points pacing a 20-point effort from the MSU bench.
The Redbirds got 13 points from Johnny Kinziger – all in the first half – to lead five Illinois State players in double figures. ISU finished 26-for-51 (.510) from the field 10-of 23 (.435) from downtown and 8-of-13 (.615) at the foul line with a dozen turnovers.
In the first half, the Bears stormed out of the gates to a 7-1 lead before both teams exchanged jobs for the next 15 minutes. The Redbirds then reeled off an 11-0 run before Chase Martin’s bucket with 94 seconds left in the half broke the string. ISU then tallied the last four points of the half to snag their biggest lead of the half, 38-23, at the intermission.
Brady and Osei-Bonsu scored 6 points apiece to lead the Bears.
Missouri State finished 36-34 all-time at Arch Madness in 35 years in the Missouri Valley Conference with 19 appearances in the semifinals and 10 championship game appearances in that span.
