A 50-point second half and a career-high 23 points from junior Dequon Miller lifted visiting Missouri State (8-11, 4-3 MVC) past Drake, 79-70, here Wednesday to give the Bears their third straight Missouri Valley Conference road win.
Missouri State also got 14 points from Chris Kendrix, 12 from Jarred Dixon and 11 by Dorrian Williams to cap MSU’s fourth double-figure comeback this season.
Down by 15 in the first half and 10 at the midway point, the Bears opened the second stanza on 14-2 run, taking the lead on a 3-pointer by Miller before the first media timeout of the final period. The Bulldogs answered after the break with a quick bucket by Dominik Olejniczak, but a steal by Dixon and tip-in by Kendrix followed to give the visitors the lead again with just over 15 minutes to play.
The lead changed hands three more times before Miller gave the Bears the lead for good with a clutch trey at the 10:13 mark – his fourth of the game. From there, Kendrix took over and scored MSU’s next 11 points to push the maroon side ahead 66-54 three-and-a-half minutes later.
Drake would cut its deficit to five twice in the final three minutes, but the Bears overcame a series of steals by Reed Timmer down the stretch and put it on ice with an alley-oop dunk by Obediah Church with 66 seconds to go.
Timmer lead three Bulldogs in double figures with 21 points while collecting a game-high 4 steals. Olejniczak added 14 off the bench for DU.
Missouri State capped its fourth win in five games by shooting 58 percent in the second half and 47 percent for the game. MSU also out-rebounded Drake by a 39-33 margin with Kendrix snagging a game-high 9 boards and Church 8.
Drake, which came into the game 10th in the nation in 3-point shooting, made five of its first six beyond the arc, but only converted one of its final 14 treys. The Bulldogs finished 30 percent from beyond the arc and 41 percent overall from the field.
With the win, Paul Lusk’s squad moved into a three-way tie for fourth place in the league standings with Indiana State and Illinois State.
After MSU led 8-7 on a layup by Robin Thompson just over five minutes into the game, Drake reeled off 10 unanswered points and held the Bears without a field goal for the next five minutes. Meanwhile, DU punished Missouri State on the glass, 22-14 in the opening period leading to 9 second-chance points for the Bulldogs.
The home side pushed ahead by as many 15 before MSU rallied late in the half on a pair of treys from Miller and a jumper by Williams before the buzzer to make it 39-29 at the intermission.
MSU returns to JQH Arena on Sunday at 3 p.m. to challenge former head coach Barry Hinson and the Southern Illinois Salukis (17-3, 6-1 MVC). Tickets for the SIU game, which is being billed as a White Out, can be purchased at MissouriStateBears.com/tickets or during regular box office hours at JQH Arena and by phone at (417) 836-7678.
