After winning 15 straight games at Hammons Student Center, Missouri State basketball has lost two in a row since. The Bears fought hard but weren’t able to make the plays down the stretch and fell to Creighton 66-62 in Springfield.
Blake Ahearn’s 3-pointer with 45 seconds gave the Bears a 60-59 lead. The lead changed on the next possession as Nathan Funk hit a tough shot in traffic putting the Bluejays in front 61-60. Missouri State had a chance to pull ahead with 25 seconds to play, down by one, but Spencer Laurie mishandled the inbounds pass, giving the ball back to CU.
“The pass was fine,” Laurie said. “I missed it. I went to catch it and I guess I took my eye off the ball.”
Funk hit two free throws to make it a 3-point game. The Bears Dale Lamberth, who led MSU with 16 points, missed an attempt to tie the game, and Dane Watts nailed two more free throws to clinch the win for Creighton.
The Bluejays completed a season sweep over MSU for the first time in four years. It was the Bears third loss in a row. They’ve fallen to 14-7 overall and 5-5 in the Missouri Valley Conference.
All we’re going to worry about is Bradley, the next game,” Hinson said. “We’ve got to quit worrying about all this other stuff.”
Funk finished with a game-high 21 points. Nick Porter added with 18 and Anthony Tolliver chipped in 13.
Blake Ahearn scored 14 points for Missouri State.
