Missouri State (14-5, 4-4) overcame a flurry of second-half three-pointers by visiting Indiana State to score a 99-92 overtime win in Missouri Valley Conference play here Tuesday, snapping a two-game losing streak for MSU.

The game before 7,343 fans at JQH Arena was really a tale of three contests. The Bears stormed out to a 43-23 halftime lead, using pressure defense and efficient shooting to shake off the cobwebs of back-to-back conference losses on the road. In the second half, the Sycamores went 11-for-14 from three-point range and erased a 21-point deficit in the final 11:17 of regulation to force extra time. Then, in overtime, the Bears turned to junior Jermaine Mallett who scored eight of the team’s 16 points in the additional period, including a pair of three-pointers and an exclamation-mark, break-away dunk with six seconds to go.

Mallett led six Bears in double figures with 18 points, while Caleb Patterson matched a career high with 17, and Will Creekmore added 15.

Indiana State’s improbable run was sparked by a four-point play with 11:08 to go in the second half after Aaron Carter was fouled in the process of making a three from the right wing. That play cut a 62-41 Bears’ lead to 17 points. Carter would nail two more treys in the next two minutes to make it a 64-52 contest, and sparked six three-pointers by three different Sycamores, including a long bomb by Harry Marshall with less than a second to play, tying the game 83-83.

In overtime, Bears’ point guard Nafis Ricks attacked the rim early and made a pair of key free throws 36 seconds into overtime before Marshall demanded the ball and scored a put-back for ISU 27 seconds later. Ricks would score on a short jumper with 3:33 to go in overtime to put Missouri State up 87-85 before Mallett drained a three-pointer from the left wing to make it 90-85 with just under three minutes remaining.

Indiana State (11-8, 3-5) was not phased by the crowd at JQH Arena and answered with a jumper by Marshall and a three-pointer by Rashad Reed  to tie the game again, 90-90. But, Mallett put the Bears up for good with 1:23 to play with his third trey of the night after Marshall, playing with four fouls, backed off Mallett who got a friendly roll.

Cuonzo Martin’s squad made four free throws down the stretch before Mallett collected a steal near mid-court and took it to the rim for a dunk with just six seconds to go to put the finishing touches on a 99-93 league win.

Marshall had a game-high 21 points to lead ISU, while Carl Richard went 8-for-10 from the field and scored 20 points. Indiana State shot 71.4 percent from the field in the second half (20-for-28), including 11-of-14 from beyond the arc and finished the game with a 51.7-percent clip. 

ISU’s 60 second-half points was a new JQH Arena record.

The Bears shattered the arena scoring record and won in overtime for the first time under second-year head coach Martin who had dropped three previous overtime contests.

Missouri State was 33-for-62 (.532) for the game, and dropped in 9-of-21 (.429) from beyond the arc. After missing 10 free throws in the second half, the Bears knocked down 6-of-8 charity shots in overtime to seal the win.

Continuing league play Sunday at 7 p.m. in Omaha, Neb., the Bears will take on Creighton (9-9, 4-3) on ESPNU before returning home for two games next week — Jan. 27 against Evansville (7:05 p.m.) and Jan. 30 against No. 20 Northern Iowa (2:05 p.m.).

In the first half, the Missouri State Bears shot 53-percent from the field to take a 43-23 lead into the break. Creekmore scored Missouri State’s first six points to help the Bears jump out to a 10-2 lead. Indiana State cut its deficit to 10-5 on a traditional three-point play by Brant Leitnaker before a 12-0 run by MSU put the home squad up 22-5 at the 11:38 mark.

The margin stayed around 17 the rest of the half before a baseline dunk by Patterson and a three-pointer by Adam Leonard with 26 seconds to go in the half put the Bears up by a 20-point margin.

The St. Louis Cardinals signed outfielder Ryan Ludwick to a one-year deal on Tuesday.

“We are pleased to have reached an agreement with Ryan,” said Cardinals’ general manager John Mozeliak. “Ryan has proven to be a steady run-producer for our ballclub for the past two-plus seasons and we look forward to another strong season from him in 2010.”

Ludwick appeared in 139 games last season for the Cardinals and hit .265 with 22 home runs and 97 RBI. He had slugged 37 home runs with 113 RBI in 2008 when he was an All-Star. The 31-year-old Ludwick, a second round pick of the Oakland Athletics in 1999, is a lifetime .271 hitter with 87 homers and 306 RBI in 515 games with the Texas Rangers, Cleveland Indians and Cardinals.

The Kansas City Royals avoided arbitration with third baseman Alex Gordon and pitcher Robinson Tejeda on Tuesday, signing both players to one-year contracts.

The 25-year-old Gordon played in only 49 games last season because of a hip injury, batting .232 with six home runs and 22 RBI. The second overall pick in 2005, Gordon is a lifetime .250 hitter with 37 home runs and 141 RBI in 334 games for Kansas City.

Tejeda, 27, went 4-2 with a 3.54 earned run average in 35 games, including six starts, last year. The right-hander is 20-21 with a 4.53 ERA in 123 career games — 53 starts – for the Phillies, Rangers and Royals.