SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Meeting for the first time in 40 years, Missouri State handed Missouri S&T's men's basketball team a 94-49 loss Sunday afternoon at JQH Arena.
Missouri S&T was playing Sunday's game as an exhibition contest against the NCAA Division I Bears, who improved to 9-1 on the year. The Miners brought a 3-9 record into the game, which they played less than 24 hours after they had edged William Jewell on Saturday night.
Missouri State, a member of the Missouri Valley Conference, got out to an 11-0 lead before the Miners got on the scoreboard on a basket by
Chima Oduocha (Hoffman Estates, IL/Conant) at the 14:33 mark. S&T trimmed that Missouri State lead to four on two occasions in the half, first on a three-pointer by
Ryan Parker (Bloomington, IN/Ridgeview) and again when
Julien Smith (Fort Worth, TX/Northwest) drained a trey with 11:43 to play before halftime.
However, the Bears went on a 9-0 run after the Smith three-pointer and maintained a double figure lead for the remainder of the opening half, extending it to as much as 18 points before taking 39-25 advantage to the locker room.
Springfield native Jared Ridder set the tone for Missouri State at the start of the second half, hitting three consecutive three-point shots to begin the period as the Bears shot 64.3 percent in the half and finished the game at 51.7 percent. Ridder led all scorers in the game with 23, while current MVC scoring leader Isiaih Mosley finished with 22.
Smith led the Miners with 15 points and hit four of S&T's 10 three-point baskets in the game as did
Nathan Elmer (Nixa, MO/Nixa), who scored all 12 of his points on treys. The Miners connected only 24.6 percent of their shots overall in the game.
The Miners and Bears had last played on Feb. 4, 1981 when both schools were members of the Missouri Intercollegiate Athletic Association. Missouri S&T has played Missouri State more often in the regular season – 138 times -- than any other school with the exception of Central Missouri and Truman State, the latter of whom the Miners played for the 150
th time on Thursday.
Missouri S&T will be idle until Saturday when it plays at Southwest Baptist.
