Courtesy: Mark Stillwell www.missouristatebears.com

Two free throws by Dale Lamberth with 1.7 seconds left on the clock put the cap on a game with no daylight between the two teams for the last 26 minutes of the contest as the Missouri State Bears slipped past the Southern Illinois Salukis 63-62 in a Missouri Valley Conference basketball matchup Wednesday night in Hammons Student Center.

Trailing by a point, the Bears called their final time out with 10.8 seconds left, and, when Justin Fuehrmeyer missed a shot from the right side, Lamberth collared the rebound under the goal to the left. As Lamberth was going back up for a shot, he was fouled by SIU’s Bryan Mullins. Lamberth calmly planted both free throws and he then intercepted SIU’s inbounds pass at midcourt just ahead of the final horn to seal the issue.

The Bears climbed to 10-1 at home for the season and 11-9 overall while dropping SIU to 9-10. Both teams balanced their Valley records at 4-4.