SPRINGFIELD – Missouri State got a game-high 17 points from Keandre Cook and 13 from fellow senior Lamont West to turn back Arkansas State, 75-53, here Wednesday and complete a clean sweep of the Bears’ three-game home stand at JQH Arena.
The Bears (6-5) shot a season-high 56.8 percent from the field and had an answer to a pair of second-half runs by the Red Wolves for their second-straight 20-point victory.
A-State (7-3) was led by Canberk Kus with 16 points, including two of his team’s three triples, while J.J. Matthews made 6-of-9 shots for 15 points before fouling out.
After holding Arkansas State to just 27-percent from the field in the first half, the Bears built an 18-point advantage midway through the game. MSU wasted no time building on that lead early in the final stanza with West scoring MSU’s first six points of the final period to push the lead to 19 just over a minute in.
A sensational break-away dunk by Cook made it a 42-23 game at the 17-minute mark before the visitors used a 9-2 run over the next three minutes to close the game to 44-32. The next two minutes were an even venture, but A-State used the momentum of an MSU technical foul to tally a four-point possession and parlayed that into an 8-0 run to make it 51-45 with 9:22 to go.
But just as fast as the threat from the Red Wolves came, the Bears squelched it with timely free throw shooting and solid play from its leaders. Tulio Da Silva, Cook and Isiaih Mosley went 6-of-6 at the foul line before Cook’s 3-pointer at the six-minute mark capped a 9-0 outburst from Dana Ford’s squad and built MSU’s advantage back to 15.
Down the stretch, Tyrik Dixon pitched in seven points in the clutch, including a 3-pointer that gave the Bears a 70-49 lead with just over two minutes to play. Ross Owens’ trey in the final minute put Missouri State up 75-51 for its biggest lead of the night in a complete-game team performance.
For the evening, the Bears finished 25-of-44 to post their second straight 50-percent shooting game and improve to 11-0 under Ford when making half their shots. MSU was also 6-of-14 (.429) from 3-point range, 19-of-23 (.826) at the foul line, and out-rebounded Arkansas State by a 28-21 margin.
The Bears, who also got 12 points from Dixon and 11 from Gaige Prim, scored 23 points off Arkansas State’s 16 turnovers.
A-State finished the game 18-of-48 (.375) from the field, 3-of-11 (.273) from long range and 14-of-16 (.875) at the stripe.
In the first half, the Bears’ stifling defense held A-State to just 6-of-22 (.273) shooting with 9 turnovers. Meanwhile Prim paced MSU’s attack, making 4-of-5 from the field in the opening period while sparking runs of 10-0 and 8-0 for the home side to lead 34-16 at the midway point.
The Bears travel to VCU (7-2) on Sunday at 6 p.m. (Central) before wrapping the non-conference portion of their schedule at Oral Roberts on Dec. 21 in Tulsa.
Missouri State then returns home on Tuesday, Jan. 31 when the Bears host Evansville at 4 p.m. in the Missouri Valley Conference opener for both teams. Tickets for the Evansville game, and all home contests, are available at MissouriStateBears.com, or by visiting the Old Missouri Bank Box Office at JQH Arena, (417) 836-7678, during regular box office hours.
