SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — Darrell Brown scored 16 points and led a game-closing 8-3 run to help Bradley beat Missouri State 82-78 on Wednesday night.

Jarrid Rhodes made a pair of free throws to give Missouri State its last lead at 75-74 with 77 seconds left. Nate Kennell made a pair to put the Braves back up for good. Brown made all six of his free throws in a 29-second span and finished 11 of 12 from the free throw line.

Kennell led Bradley (19-11, 9-8 Missouri Valley) by scoring 20 points with six 3-pointers. Dwayne Lautier-Ogunleye scored 18 and Donte Thomas and Koch Bar each added 10.

Jared Dixon paced Missouri State (17-13, 7-10) with 24 points, Rhodes scored 20 and Mustafa Lawrence 11. Alize Johnson grabbed 11 rebounds and distributed six assists. The Bears shot 13 of 30 from 3-point range.

— Associated Press —

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — Reed Timmer completed a 4-point play with 1.8 seconds left in the game to cap a 20-point outing in Drake’s 67-63 win over Missouri State on Sunday.

Graham Woodward was left open in the corner for a 3-pointer to give Drake a 63-62 lead with 13.8 to go. After Alize Johnson made 1 of 2 free throws, Timmer lost control of it on a dribble through his legs, but regained it and launched a deep 3-pointer just before the buzzer.

Nick McGlynn and De’Antae McMurray each added nine points for Drake (16-13, 10-6 Missouri Valley Conference).

McMurray made an off-balance jumper at the buzzer to close the first half with a 35-25 lead.

Alize Johnson had 14 points and 16 rebounds and J.T. Miller added 14 points for Missouri State (17-12, 7-9).

Most of MSU’s bench was removed in the second half after going onto the court to help Dixon up after a hard foul.

— Associated Press —

CARBONDALE, Ill. – A pair of free throws by Aaron Cook with 4.1 seconds left in overtime gave Southern Illinois an 81-80 victory over visiting Missouri State her Wednesday, in a game in which the visiting Bears put forth one of their best efforts of the season.

Missouri State (17-11, 7-8 MVC) was led by Jarrid Rhodes who pumped in a career-high 21 points behind five 3-pointers, while Alize Johnson secured his 18th double-double of the year with 15 points, 16 rebounds and a game-high 5 assists.

SIU was led by Armon Fletcher’s 22 points, while Sean Lloyd produced 21, including 20 in the second half.

MSU had opportunities at the end of regulation and overtime to win the game. Rhodes’ 3-pointer before the final buzzer at the end of regulation rimmed out to force the extra period. The shot came after the Bears erased a five-point deficit with 3:29 to play.

After Cook’s free throws in overtime, MSU got the ball to Jarred Dixon, who scored 15 off the bench for the visitors. He drove all the way to the rim, and Obediah Church grabbed his miss and put it in the basket for what briefly looked like a game-winner for MSU. But a video replay showed Church’s put-back came after the horn, giving SIU its seventh straight win in the long-rivaled series.

MSU knocked down 12-of-29 (.414) from 3-point range, including three by freshman Mustafa Lawrence who tallied 11 points. It marked the second-highest 3-point output of the year by MSU.

The Bears were 28-of-62 (.452) overall and made a season-high 92.3 percent at the foul line on 12-of-13 makes. MSU also out-rebounded the Salukis 40-33.

SIU (18-10, 10-5 MVC) shot 50 percent in the second half to overcome a slow start and finished 31-of-70 (.443) overall and 8-of-19 (.421), including three treys by Marcus Bartley. SIU was 11-of-13 (.846) at the stripe.

In the first half, the Bears drained three 3-pointers in the first five minutes to charge out to a 16-5 lead. MSU would finish the first stanza with a 46.4 percent effort from the field and 7-of-14 performance from beyond the arc.

But the Salukis chipped away, collecting five threes of their own and using a 15-6 run to end the half and go into the intermission leading the Bears, 35-34. Fletcher’s desperation jumper at the buzzer banked hard off the glass but found the net to give the home club its first lead of the night.

There were nine ties and 16 lead changes in the contest.

MSU returns to JQH Arena on Sunday to begin its final home stand of the season. The Bears take on Drake at 3 p.m. Sunday on ESPNU before entertaining Bradley on Wednesday, Feb. 21 at 7 p.m. in the home finale.

— MSU Athletics —

ST. LOUIS – Missouri State standout Alize Johnson (Sr., Williamsport, Pa.) was named Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Week, the league announced Monday afternoon.

Johnson helped the Bears to a 2-0 week and +18.0 scoring margin after averaging 19.5 points, 10.5 rebounds, 6.0 assists and 2.0 blocks per game on the week.

He tallied 28 points behind five 3-pointers in the Bears’ 19-point win at Indiana State on Feb. 5, with a career-high four blocks. He followed that performance with 11 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists in MSU’s 17-point home win over Evansville on Feb. 10. He was also 7-for-7 at the free throw line against the Aces while racking up his 17th double-double effort of the year.

Johnson was an even 11-for-22 from the field on the week and converted 12-of-13 (.923) free throws with a 6.0 assist-to-turnover ratio and three steals.

Also noteworthy for the preseason MVC player of the year was Saturday’s performance pushing him over 900 career points. He became just the 34th player in program history to do so and just the fifth two-year player.

This week’s accolades mark Johnson’s third MVC Player of the Week honor this season, also earning the distinction on Dec. 26 and Jan. 15, and the fifth such honor of his career. The only MSU player to win the MVC Player of the Week award more than Johnson is Kyle Weems (2008-12) who won it six times in his career.

Southern Illinois’ Kavion Pippen was named Newcomer of the Week

Johnson and the Bears (17-10, 7-7 MVC) return to conference action Wednesday at Southern Illinois for a 7 p.m. in a key Valley contest in Carbondale. The Bears then return home Feb. 18 and Feb. 21 to close out the home slate.

— MSU Athletics —

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — Alize Johnson scored 11 points with 13 rebounds and J.T. Miller scored 16 points as Missouri State defeated Evansville 72-55 on Saturday.

Johnson, who posted his 17th double-double this season, made seven straight free throws in an 11-0 run that closed the first half, giving the Bears (17-10, 7-7 Missouri Valley Conference) a 37-24 lead.

Miller opened the second half with a dunk and the lead remained in double figures, reaching 23 late on a Miller bucket.

Obediah Church had a career-high 13 rebounds, surpassing 500 in his career, along with nine points and Mustafa Lawrence added 12 points for the Bears, who have won two straight. The Bears dominated the boards 45-22, including 17 on the offensive end that led to advantages of 16-3 in second-chance points and 38-16 in the paint.

Ryan Taylor and Dru Smith had 13 and 12 points, respectively, for the Purple Aces (16-11, 6-8).

— Associated Press —

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (AP) — Alize Johnson drilled a 3-pointer to open the scoring and drained another for the final score as he finished with 28 points to lead Missouri State to an 81-62 win over Indiana State on Tuesday night to halt a five-game skid.

Johnson nailed 5 of 9 from long range and finished making 9 of 15 from the field. He also had eight rebounds, five assists and four blocks. Jarred Dixon added 13 points and Jarrid Rhodes scored 11 for Missouri State (16-10, 6-7 Missouri Valley Conference). Tanveer Bhullar also had four of Missouri State’s 12 blocked shots, two shy of the school record set in 1990.

The Bears, who led throughout, jumped to a 9-0 lead and held a 36-25 halftime advantage. They pushed the lead to 64-50 after Johnson drained his third trey at the 8:31 mark. He quickly made another 3 and Missouri State cruised to the win.

Brenton Scott had 19 points for the Sycamores (11-14, 6-7).

— Associated Press —

CHICAGO (AP) — Clayton Custer matched his season high with 23 points to lead six players in double figures and Loyola-Chicago took control early and coasted to a 97-75 victory over Missouri State on Saturday.

Custer made 9 of 11 shots, including all seven of his attempts inside the 3-point arc, and handed out six assists for the Ramblers (19-5, 9-3 Missouri Valley Conference). Marques Townes totaled 14 points, six rebounds and four assists, while Cameron Krutwig added 13 points and seven boards. Aundre Jackson scored 12 off the bench on 5-of-6 shooting and Donte Ingram and Ben Richardson both scored 11 for Loyola-Chicago, which shot 61 percent from the floor and buried half its 20 3-pointers. The Ramblers are off to their best start in MVC play since the 1986-87 season.

Freshman Mustafa Lawrence made 5 of 9 from 3-point range and scored a career-high 19 points for the Bears (15-10, 5-7). J.T. Miller tossed in 15 points, while Alize Johnson chipped in with 14 points, nine rebounds and five assists. Missouri State dropped its fifth straight game.

— Associated Press —

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — Milik Yarbrough and Keyshawn Evans scored 15 points apiece as Illinois State had five in double-figure scoring to cruise to a 76-60 victory over Missouri State on Tuesday night.

The Redbirds (12-11, 6-5 Missouri Valley Conference) have won two straight and swept Missouri State (15-9, 5-6).

Yarbrough was just 4 of 13 from the field, but made 6 of 8 free throws and had a game-high six assists. Evans was 5-of-15 shooting and made three 3-pointers. Taylor Bruninga added 13 points for the Redbirds. Madison Williams had 12 points and Phil Fayne chipped in 11.

Alize Johnson had 12 points and 10 rebounds to lead Missouri State, which shot 21 of 65 from the field and missed 19 3-pointers. Mustafa Lawrence and J.T. Miller also scored 12 points each.

Illinois State never trailed and built a 30-21 halftime advantage. Evans, Bruninga and Williams each made a 3-pointer during an 11-0 surge, and the Redbirds had a 46-28 lead early in the second.

— Associated Press —

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — Armon Fletcher scored 18 points, including a layup with 6.7 seconds left, to lift Southern Illinois to a 79-77 win over Missouri State on Saturday night.

Kavion Pippen, who added 17 points, got the ball on the low block before finding Fletcher cutting down the lane. Jarrid Rhodes missed a potential winning 3 for the Bears as time ran out.

Missouri State was down by 11 at the half and 10 with 11 1/2 minutes to play before finally tying the game twice with less than two minutes to go.

Southern Illinois (14-9, 6-4 Missouri Valley conference) made 8 of 13 3-pointers and shot 64 percent (30 of 47) from the field.

Alize Johnson had 29 points and 12 rebounds for the Bears (15-8, 5-5), who shot 58 percent in the second half but couldn’t slow the Salukis offense. Obediah Church had two blocks to break the school record of 167 set by Danny Moore (1996-99).

— Associated Press —

PEORIA, Ill. (AP) — Darrell Brown scored 20 points with eight assists, Elijah Childs added 12 points with 12 rebounds and Bradley pulled away in the second half to defeat Missouri State 72-52 Tuesday night, maintaining a perfect record on its home court this season.

Jayden Hodgson made a 3-pointer to start a 16-2 breakaway run that turned a one-point lead into 17, 47-30, midway through the second half, and Bradley (15-7, 5-4 Missouri Valley Conference) wasn’t challenged again.

Ronnie Rousseau III and Jarrid Rhodes each scored 10 points to lead Missouri State (15-7, 5-4), which made just eight field goals — at one point it was 1-for-12 — in the decisive second half, finishing 18 of 57 for 32 percent. The Bears, preseason favorites, haven’t won a conference road game in five tries this season.

Bradley pushed its home-court record to 11-0 this season.

— Associated Press —