Missouri State exorcised a ghost by beating Wichita State last Sunday. So, somewhat of a letdown was only to be expected against Evansville right? WRONG!
The Bears followed their win over the Shockers by scoring more points in a Missouri Valley Conference game than they ever have in school history. The final score: MSU 106, Evansville 54. The 106 points was also the most scored in the Valley since Southern Illinois did it against the Bears in 1998.
The crowd of 7,205 watched as the Bears upped their Hammons Center winning streak to 15 games, the second-longest streak since the building opened 30 years ago.
MSU wasted little time heating up. They opened the game by building a 16-1 lead and led by 28 before Evansville pulled within 53-30 at the half. The Bears shot 56-percent in the first half and got even hotter after the intermission shooting a scorching 21-of-29 from the field (.724%).
The Bears nailed 12-of-21 shots from behind the arc, including 5-of-5 from Tyler Chaney who finished with a team-high 21 points to go along with eight rebounds. Deven Mitchell added 16.
Northern Iowa’s loss on the road to last-place Illinois State coupled with the Bears win creates a three-team logjam with Creighton atop the league standings.
Related web sites:
Missouri State Athletics Site