Missouri State Bears Win 52-49 Thriller Over Drake at Great Southern Bank Arena

The Missouri State Bears survive a comeback attempt by the Drake Bulldogs to win 52-49 Sunday afternoon at Great Southern Bank Arena.

The Bears led by as many as ten points in the first half, carrying a 30-23 lead into the locker room at halftime.

But the Bulldogs, the preseason favorite in the Missouri Valley Conference, took the lead on three different occasions in the second half, going ahead by as many as three points, 49-46, with 2:23 left in regulation.

But Missouri State got a layup from Jonathan Mogbo with 1:58 remaining to pull within one and took the lead on a jumper by Donovan Clay with 1:07 left in the game.

Clay made one of two free throw attempts with 21.6 seconds left to put MSU up 51-49.

Drake’s Sardaar Calhoun missed a jumper with four seconds left.

Mogbo made one of two free throw attempts with 3.7 seconds on the clock to make it a 52-49 game.

Drake got two more chances to tie the game in the final three seconds, but caught the ball of bounds on both occasions.

The Bulldogs were able to get the ball that second time when a Missouri State player stepped on the sideline on an inbounds play.

Clay, who passed the 1,000 career point plateau with a jumper at the 8:20 mark of the second half that gave the Bears the lead, finished with 15 points to lead MSU.

Tucker DeVries scored 20 points to lead Drake.

The Bears shot 40% from the flood (20-50), including 8-24 from the three point line, while the Bulldogs hit 35.1% (20-57).

Drake was 4-8 from the free throw line, and the Bears, who have struggled to make free throws this season, were 4-9.

Each team had 35 rebounds and 13 points from turnovers.

The Bears improve to 7-7 overall, 3-1 in the Missouri Valley Conference, while the Bulldogs drop to 11-4, 2-2.

MSU will be back in action Wednesday night at 7:00 at Great Southern Bank Arena against the Evansville Purple Aces.