Missouri State Bears Roll To 85-62 Win Over Evansville at Great Southern Bank Arena

The Missouri State Bears led from start to finish, downing the Evansville Purple Aces Wednesday night at Great Southern Bank Arena in Springfield.

The Bears jumped out to an early 12-5 advantage that started with a Jonathan Mogbo layup and concluded with a Mogbo slam dunk.

The Aces pulled within four, 14-10 at the 13:41 mark of the first half, but Donovan Clay hit a layup for the Bears, followed by Damien Mayo, Junior layup.

That started MSU on an 8-0 run that saw the Bears go up 22-10, with 11:48 left in the half.

The Bears went up by 11 on another shot by Mogbo midway through the half, and the Aces would get no closer than ten the rest of the way.

Missouri State took a 40-25 lead into the locker room at halftime, then worked on extending it in the second half.

Kendle Moore and Chance Moore hit three pointers, with N.J. Benson, Dalen Ridgnal and Clay getting some big buckets as MSU went ahead by 24 midway through the half, coasting from there.

Chance Moore led four Bears players in double figure scoring with 19 points.

Clay added 17 points, with Ridgnal and Mogbo scoring 14 each.

Mogbo added ten rebounds for a double-double.

Marvin Coleman led all scorers with 22 points for the Aces.

Missouri State out-rebounded Evansville 41-24, with both teams shooting 49% from the field.

Evansville hit six of ten three point attempts, while the Bears were 9-23.

MSU went 12-18 from the free throw line, with the Aces connecting on ten of 18 attempts.

The Bears have won four straight games, improving to 8-7 overall, 4-1 in the Missouri Valley Conference.

Evansville drops to 4-11 overall, 0-5 in the Valley.

The Bears will play at Belmont Saturday at 4:00 p.m. in a game that will be broadcast on 93-3 A-M 560 KWTO.