COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — When Missouri kicker Tucker McCann missed a 31-yard field goal to the left with 1:48 remaining in the game, the possibility opened up that Missouri could lose its third last-second contest of the season.

The Tigers were up 33-28. Quarterback Kyle Shurmur led Vanderbilt 55 yards down the field, setting up for a play on Missouri’s 25-yard line with five seconds remaining.

When the final pass came down untouched, Missouri had won its sixth game, becoming bowl-eligible for the second season in a row. The Tigers exhaled.

“I instantly just fell down on my knees and said `thank you God’,” Missouri running back Damarea Crockett said.

Missouri’s defense bent but didn’t break during Vanderbilt’s final drive.

“I was wishing it was over before then,” Missouri head coach Barry Odom said. “But I had trust in what was called. I’m proud that our team ended up winning it on that last play.”

In the end, the Tigers (6-4, 2-4 Southeastern Conference) are going bowling, and the Commodores (4-6, 1-5) will need to win both its remaining games to guarantee bowl eligibility.

Vanderbilt had led all game until Missouri running backs Crockett and Larry Rountree III fueled a 99-yard drive to start the fourth quarter. The drive started after Vanderbilt failed to convert a 4th-and-goal opportunity on Missouri’s 1-yard line.

“Not putting the ball in the end zone on fourth-and-1 was the most critical play in the ballgame for us,” Vanderbilt coach Derek Mason said. “Not getting that done cost us momentum.”

From there, the Tigers trekked down the field for a 14-play drive that lasted 5:38. Quarterback Drew Lock trotted three yards into the end zone to give Missouri its first lead of the game — 33-28 with 9:18 remaining.

Shurmur outplayed Lock for the majority of the game, with 249 yards and three touchdowns on 24-for-35 passing. Lock, a former Heisman hopeful, passed for 253 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions on 22-for-33 passing.

Crockett bolted for 122 yards and a touchdown on 22 carries and Rountree added 92 yards on 21 rushes.

“Those guys put the game on their back,” Lock said. “Our o-line blocked their butts off.”

Vanderbilt’s Ke’Shawn Vaughn ran for 182 yards and one touchdown on 15 carries, good for 12.1 yards per carry.

THE TAKEAWAY

Vanderbilt: The Commodores showed promise on offense in the first half and proved that they could compete on the road. The victory would have immensely helped the team’s bowl chances, but Vanderbilt can still clinch eligibility with wins in home games against Ole Miss and Tennessee.

Missouri: It wasn’t as pretty as the Tigers’ 38-17 victory over No. 13 Florida, but Missouri is officially going bowling. After a rough first half, the defense locked down and offense stepped up in the second half. Finally winning a close game should help the Tigers’ spirits.

FOURTH QUARTER FUTILITY

Beginning with the failed fourth-and-goal attempt from the 1-yard line, Vanderbilt missed out on multiple opportunities in the fourth quarter. Vanderbilt was flagged on an unsportsmanlike conduct, which turned a 3rd-and-1 to a 3rd-and-16, which it didn’t convert.

The Commodores picked off Lock on the ensuing drive, putting themselves on Missouri’s 35. They managed just one yard on four plays.

“It’s been the same story all season,” said Vanderbilt tight end Jared Pinkney, who had five catches for 88 yards. “We can’t finish, for whatever reason.”

ON THE RIGHT SIDE

Missouri has lost a pair of last-second contests this season, 37-35 to South Carolina and 15-14 against No. 12 Kentucky. After winning on a last-second play, Odom and his players acknowledged how much better it feels to be on the good side of thrillers.

“Down to the last play, I’m kind of tired of those,” Odom said. “Excited for our team to show the resolve, the toughness and the grit when it wasn’t very pretty early on.”

UP NEXT

Vanderbilt returns home to play Ole Miss.

Missouri goes on the road to face Tennessee.

— Associated Press —

AMES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa State fans showed up to Hilton Coliseum on Friday night to the sight of star Lindell Wigginton in a cardinal-colored cast instead of a cardinal and gold jersey.

It was of somewhat small solace that the Cyclones played so well without their most talented player — whose timetable for a return to the court was described by coach Steve Prohm as a “week-to-week thing.”

Marial Shayok scored 20 points, Nick Weiler-Babb had 16 with six assists and Iowa State throttled Missouri 76-59 in a matchup of old Big 12 rivals.

Michael Jacobson scored 15 points for the Cyclones (2-0), who avenged a blowout loss in Columbia from last season with a surprisingly complete performance orchestrated by Weiler-Babb.

“He’s a high-level point guard. He’s the most cerebral player on our team,” Prohm said. “He’s a senior point guard and he played like it.”

Iowa State closed the first half on a 9-0 run and pushed its lead to 47-30 early in the second half. Missouri cut it to 10, but the undermanned Cyclones reeled off eight straight points to jump back on top 61-43. Weiler-Babb’s scoop with 4:52 to go made it 70-49, a bucket that put the Tigers out of their misery.

Mark Smith scored 15 points to lead Missouri (1-1), which committed 25 turnovers. Kevin Puryear had 10 points, but he only took five shots.

“At one point, it seemed like it was one after another. We need to have better focus at protecting the ball,” Puryear said.

Wigginton, a preseason All-Big 12 selection, showed up to Friday’s game against Missouri with a cast on his left foot that was put on Thursday.

Prohm called the injury a strain, adding that Wigginton will spend a week in a cast, a week in a boot and then, hopefully, go through and aggressive rehabilitation to try and get back onto the floor as soon as possible.

Wigginton averaged 16.7 points a game last season and nearly declared for the NBA Draft before returning to school. Wigginton had 13 points in Iowa State’s 79-53 win over Alabama State on Tuesday.

“I don’t have a timeframe,” Prohm said. “To get him back the quickest, we needed to immobilize his foot right away.”

BIG PICTURE

Missouri: The Tigers had a staggering 15 turnovers in the first half — four more than they had in a 68-55 win over Central Arkansas in the opener — and committed 26 fouls. This loss might’ve been the truest sign yet of how much Missouri is going to miss the injured Jontay Porter this season.

Iowa State: With Wigginton out and Cameron Lard and Zoran Talley suspended until at least December, Iowa State’s eight-man rotation currently has four true freshmen in it. It was a highly thought of class, to be sure, but being forced to play them all so soon certainly wasn’t in coach Steve Prohm’s master plan.

ON HALIBURTON

Haliburton, at 6-foot-5 and just 172 pounds, might be one of the skinniest players in America — and the release on his jumper is, shall we say, funky. But the kid plays like he’s been in Ames for years, rounding his teammates up on stoppages of play like a senior and displaying a well-rounded skill set through two games. Haliburton had eight points, four steals and three rebounds in 40 minutes, and he didn’t turn the ball over once. “Tyrese just has that kind of `It’ factor,” Prohm said.

MIZZ-ERABLE

Missouri outrebounded the smaller Cyclones 35-26. But that was about all the Tigers did right. All those turnovers killed them, as Iowa State had 19 more points off of turnovers in a game it won by 17. “I think it was more about us…we’ll get it corrected,” coach Cuonzo Martin said.

HE SAID IT

“He’s the key to what they do,” Martin said about Weiler-Babb. “Wigginton can score the ball. But I just feel like he’s the guy that can get guys where they need to get.”

UP NEXT

Missouri hosts Kennesaw State on Nov. 16

Iowa State hosts Texas Southern on Monday night.

— Associated Press —