DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Reed Timmer scored 18 of his 24 points in the second half and Drake survived miserable 3-point shooting to beat Missouri State 61-58 on Saturday.

The victory left the Bulldogs (12-9, 6-2) alone atop the Missouri Valley Conference with Loyola of Chicago (5-1) playing Sunday.

The Bulldogs were only 3 of 26 from the arc. But Timmer broke the final tie with two free throws with six minutes left then added a layup and four more free throws in the final minute.

With Drake leading 60-58, the Bulldogs’ C.J. Rivers missed two free throws with nine seconds left but J.T. Miller missed a short jumper and Nick McGlynn, who had two big blocks late, grabbed the rebound.

Drake made its first 17 free throws until Rivers’ misses while the Bears were 5 of 7.

Jarrid Rhodes and Jarred Dixon scored 15 points each for Missouri State (15-6, 5-3).

— Associated Press —

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — Alize Johnson had 24 points and 17 rebounds and Missouri State held off Valparaiso for a 64-57 victory on Wednesday night.

Johnson was 9-of-14 shooting, made three 3-pointers and collected his eighth straight double-double. Jarred Dixon finished with 12 points for Missouri State (15-5, 5-2 Missouri Valley Conference), which swept the Crusaders and has won six of its last eight.

Dixon hit a jumper, Johnson scored eight points, and Obediah Church capped a 12-2 run with a dunk that stretched Missouri State’s one-point lead to 57-46 with five minutes to play.

Tevonn Walker scored the next five points, and Max Joseph made a 3-pointer during an 11-4 spurt that pulled the Crusaders to 61-57 with 33 seconds left. Dixon made 3 of 4 free throws to seal it.

Markus Golder scored 12 points and Walker had 10 to lead Valparaiso (11-9, 2-5).

— Associated Press —

EVANSVILLE, Ind. (AP) — Dru Smith scored 15 points, Ryan Taylor added 13 and Evansville turned back Missouri State 64-55 on Wednesday night.

K.J. Riley had 11 points for the Purple Aces (12-6, 2-3 Missouri Valley Conference) and Dainiu Chatkevicius had 10 points and 11 rebounds.

Alize Johnson led the Bears (13-5, 3-2) with 16 points and 14 rebounds and Jarrid Rhodes and Reggie Scurry had 10 points each.

Evansville scored the first six points and led wire-to-wire. The Purple Aces led by as many as 11 points in the first half before settling for a 31-24 advantage at the break. Ronnie Rousseau III scored all nine of his points in less than five minutes as part of a 13-6 burst that helped the Bears cut an 11-point deficit down to four with 8 1/2 minutes to go.

Missouri State’s last 3 baskets were 3-pointers, Johnson making it a three-point game with 1:12 to go. But the Bears missed their last five shots and the Purple Aces were 6 of 8 from the line in the last minute, wrapping up a 14 of 20 second half while the Bears were just 2 of 2.

The series is now tied at 34, dating to 1959 when Evansville beat MSU in the championship game of the NCAA Division II Tournament.

— Associated Press —

NORMAL, Ill. (AP) — Phil Fayne and Milik Yarbrough scored 23 points each as Illinois State forced Missouri State into uncharacteristic turnovers, handing the Bears their first Missouri Valley Conference loss, 72-68, Sunday.

Illinois State (9-7, 3-1) showed why it owns the best turnover margin in the MVC, forcing Missouri State into a season-most 18 turnovers, 11 in the first half, turning those into 23 points while the Redbirds only turned the ball over six times. The Bears had the fewest turnovers in conference.

Missouri State, which lost a four-game win streak as well as its 3-0 start in MVC, fell behind by as many as 10 in the second half but fought back into a 58-56 lead on a J.T. Miller tip-in and foul shot with 4:44 to play.

Fayne regained the lead with back-to-back dunks inside the final two minutes, converting the second dunk into a 3-point play. Illinois State was up 65-62 and Yarbrough, Keyshawn Evans and Fayne made 5 of 8 free throws in the last 15 seconds while a 3-pointer and a drive by Jarred Dixon couldn’t regain the lead.

Miller, Ronnie Rousseau and Alize Johnson scored 16 each for the Bears (13-4, 3-1).

— Associated Press —

SPRINGFIELD – Alize Johnson scored 24 points and snagged 20 of his team’s 51 rebounds to help Missouri State (13-3, 3-0 MVC) to a 62-55 win over visiting Northern Iowa (8-7, 0-3) here Thursday in Missouri Valley Conference play.

It was Johnson’s second 20-20 game of the season and his 10th double-double.

Missouri State, which is off to a 3-0 start in Valley play for the first time since 2010-11, also got 13 points off the bench from J.T. Miller and 9 points from Jarrid Rhodes.

UNI got 18 points and 10 rebounds from Tywhon Pickford, while Klint Carlson posted 16 points as the Panthers dropped their fifth straight.

The Bears added to their nine-point halftime lead with a 9-0 run early in the second half. The two-minute outburst included a drive to the rack by Ryan Kreklow, a steal and layup by Johnson, a trey by Rhodes and an offensive rebound and put-back by Johnson that put MSU up by 17 with just over 14 minutes to play.

Miller scored six of MSU’s eight points in a five-minute stretch from there, and Johnson’s two free throws with 6:11 remaining gave the Bears their biggest lead of the night, 55-36.

The next three minutes belonged to UNI, which reeled off seven unanswered points before Johnson quieted the Panther rally with a short jumper. Bennett Koch’s bucket with 2:33 to play made it a 57-45 contest with the visitors failing to surrender late in the contest.

Over the next two minutes, Missouri State missed six consecutive free throws to open the door for UNI which climbed back within 57-53 on a triple by Carlson with 27 seconds to go.

But MSU’s starters showed composure when it counted. Johnson, Jarred Dixon and Kreklow teamed up to ice the Bears’ final five charity shots of the night and secure the seven-point win.

“If you rebound like that and defend like that – even if we miss shots – all we have to do is be solid with the ball,” said MSU head coach Paul Lusk. “We didn’t do that late in the game and got casual with the ball. But we had some guys step up with some solid defensive plays late, and then we closed it out. But (UNI) is a championship-caliber team. They’re not going anywhere.”

The Bears out-rebounded UNI by a convincing 51-26 margin, including 17 MSU caroms on the offensive end. MSU also held the Panthers to just seven field goals in the first half and four 3-pointers on the night.

MSU finished 20-of-54 (.370) from the field and 4-of-16 (.250) from long distance with a .667 (18-of-27) free throw effort. The Bears also turned the ball over 13 times on the night.

For its part, UNI made a game of it late with behind seniors Carlson and Koch who accounted for 11 combined points in the final five minutes. The Panthers finished 20-of-53 from the field, 4-of-18 from three and 11-of-19 at the stripe with just four offensive rebounds and six turnovers.

The Bears were slow out of the gates to start the night, making just one of their first 10 shots and fell behind 9-4 early. A transition basket by Alize Johnson started MSU’s comeback, and his layup with 5:48 to go in the opening half gave the Bears their first lead since the opening minute and started a 15-3 run over the next three-and-a-half minutes for the home club.

Northern Iowa went six minutes without a field goal from there as MSU stepped up its defensive intensity and forced the Panthers to just 2-of-9 in the last nine minutes of the stanza.

Johnson ended the first half with his double-double already secured, taking 11 points and 13 boards into the intermission.

There have been just five 20-20 games in Division I this season – Johnson’s two, along with Washington’s Noah Dickerson, Baylor’s Jo Lual-Acuil and Duke’s Marvin Bagley.

Missouri State begins a two-game Valley road swing Sunday at Illinois State (8-7, 2-1 MVC), a nationally-televised game on CBS Sports Network that tips at 1 p.m. After a road game at Evansville on Jan. 10, the Bears return home on Jan. 14 to take on Indiana State at 2 p.m.

— MSU Athletics —

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — Alize Johnson hit five 3-pointers and scored 24 with 11 rebounds, Reggie Scurry came off the bench to score 18 with seven boards and Missouri State slipped past Loyola-Chicago 64-59 in a Missouri Valley Conference opener for both teams on Friday.

Ryan Kreklow chipped in with 10 points, five assists and five rebounds for the Bears (11-3), who ran their record to 25-3 in MVC home openers. Johnson notched his third straight double-double and eighth of the season and needs just three rebounds to reach 500 for his career. Missouri State won the battle of the boards 32-30 and have outrebounded its opponents in 13 of 14 games. The Bears, who have posted double-figure totals in offensive rebounds in 12 games this season, had nine against the Ramblers (10-3).

Cameron Krutwig had a season-high 18 points on 7-of-8 shooting for Illinois-Chicago. Marques Townes added 14 points and Aundre Jackson scored 10 for the Ramblers, who hit 23 of 52 shots (44 percent) to become just the second team this season to top 43 percent against Missouri State. The Ramblers have never won a MVC opener on the road.

Townes’ jumper gave the Ramblers a 48-47 lead midway through the second half, but Scurry and Johnson teamed up for a 7-2 run and the Bears never trailed again.

— Associated Press —

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — Obediah Church scored 13 points and blocked three shots, Alize Johnson added 12 points with 14 rebounds for his seventh double-double of the season, and Missouri State held off a second-half Wright State run to win 66-50 on Tuesday night.

Trailing by 18 at halftime, the Raiders closed to within 53-48 after Hall capped a 12-4 run with 3-pointer with 7:51 to play. But Church scored four straight to spark a 13-2 run that included his dunk with 1:31 left and the Bears won going away.

Jarrid Rhodes scored 12 points with three 3s for Missouri State (10-3), which has won eight of its last nine games.

Ryan Kreklow’s 3 sparked a 20-4 run capped by Church’s dunk and the Bears led 34-16 at halftime.

Justin Mitchell scored 18 points and Jaylon Hall added 10 for the Raiders (7-5), which saw its three-game win streak end.

— Associated Press —

TULSA, Okla. (AP) — Emmanuel Nzekwesi scored 17 points, Javan White added 14, and Oral Roberts rallied to beat Missouri State 73-66 on Sunday to end the Bears’ seven-game win streak and tie the series 8-8.

Sam Kearns scored 13 points and Chris Miller added 10 for the Golden Eagles (3-9), who outshot the Bears 53.1 percent to 45.6 percent from the floor but were outrebounded 35-26.

Miller tied it at 42 with a layup and White’s dunk put Oral Roberts up 53-49 and the Golden Eagles led 68-62 after Kearns’ back-to-back 3s with 4:07 to go.

The Bears closed to 70-66 on Reggie Scurry’s layup but Nzekwesi blocked his jumper on the next possession and Kearns and Nzekwesi sealed it with three free throws in the final 37 seconds.

RJ Fuqua hit two 3-pointers in Oral Roberts’ opening 9-2 run, but Scurry’s jumper put the Bears up 19-17 and Missouri State led 38-34 at halftime behind Jarrid Rhodes’ 12 points.

Rhodes scored 14 points, J.T. Miller had 13 and Scurry 11 for Missouri State (9-3). Jarred Dixon had seven assists.

— Associated Press —

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — Ryan Kreklow fired off the Missouri State bench to score 20 points and spark the Bears to a 77-67 win over Colorado State in the Mountain West-Missouri Valley Challenge on Tuesday night.

Missouri State built a 16-point lead by intermission and cruised behind a strong showing by its bench, which outscored the Rams 46-6.

Missouri State now is 2-4 all-time in the Challenge.

Kreklow hit 6 of 11 from the field, including 3 of 6 from behind the three-point arc. His 5 of 6 night at the free-throw line featured his first miss of the season. He had made 12 of 12 from the line coming into the game.

Prentiss Nixon finished with 20 points to lead Colorado State, with Deion James and Che Bob adding 14 and 13 points, respectively. The Rams shot 23 of 64 from the field (35.9 percent), including 4 of 23 from long range.

— Associated Press —

ESTERO, Fla. (AP) — Alize Johnson drove and scored with 11 seconds left to give Missouri State a 69-65 victory over Manhattan on Tuesday in the consolation semifinals of the Gulf Coast Showcase.

After Johnson’s basket, Ryan Kreklow made a steal and sank two free throws for the final score.

Johnson shot 5 of 10 from the field and made all seven of his free throws in leading the Bears (2-2) with 17 points. Obediah Church and J.T. Miller added 12 points each. The Bears (3-2) were only 1 of 11 from 3-point range but 20 of 25 from the free-throw line.

Aaron Walker Jr. and Rich Williams each scored 15 points for the Jaspers (2-2).

Neither team led by double figures. The Jaspers led by five at halftime and clung to the lead until a 6-0 run with 4 1/2 minutes left capped by a dunk from Church gave the Bears a two-point lead with 2:41 to go. The Jaspers tied it twice after that but Johnson scored inside twice, including the game-winning layup.

The Bears will play for fifth place on Wednesday and the Jaspers for seventh.

— Associated Press —