Career performances by Missouri State's Alize Johnson and Dequon Miller helped the Bears tally an impressive 73-68 wire-to-wire road victory over Indiana State here Wednesday in Missouri Valley Conference action.
Johnson scored 26 points and snagged a career-best 20 rebounds, while Miller posted a career-high 24 points for the Bears (13-7, 4-3 MVC), who converted 12-of-13 free throws down the stretch.
Johnson's 20 rebounds were the most by any Missouri State player since 1990 and matched a program high during its Division I era.
Indiana State (7-12, 1-6 MVC) never led, and got 27 points from Brenton Scott along with a team-high 8 rebounds as the Sycamores fell to 5-4 at Hulman Center this winter.
Johnson helped spark an impressive start for MSU, posting 18 points and 10 rebounds in the first half to boost the visitors to a 39-26 advantage at the midway point. He knocked down three 3-pointers before the first media timeout and helped squelch an 8-0 run by the Sycamores late in the first half, igniting an 11-3 counter-attack by the Bears before the intermission with a dazzling layup at the four-minute mark.
In the second half, MSU pushed ahead to their biggest lead of the night, 43-29, on a reverse layup by Obediah Church less than four minutes into the second stanza.
The Sycamores responded with a 15-6 run over the next five minutes to get within 49-44 at the 11:37 mark. Scott accounted for 10 points during the run with a pair of long-range bombs for the home side. But Johnson came out of the 7:55 media timeout with a clutch 3-pointer, his fourth of the game, to give the Bears some breathing room, making it 53-46 at the time and end a six-minute Bears' drought without a field goal.
A jumper by Jarrid Rhodes gave the Bears an eight-point advantage with 5:27 to go, and near the four-minute mark, Miller buried a clutch triple to end a 5-0 microburst by Indiana State and give the visitors a 60-54 advantage.
The clutch buckets continued down the stretch for Missouri State, which matched its season win total from a year ago. Senior Tyler McCullough scored up close on a dish from Johnson before the two-minute mark that made it a 64-58 Bears lead.
From there, Missouri State made 9-of-10 free throws in the final 64 seconds – including 4-of-4 by Rhodes – and overcame two late treys by the Sycamores in that span to secure the win. In a key stretch during the final 11 minutes and change, the Bears converted 12-of-13 attempts from the stripe.
Overall, Missouri State finished 17-for-22 (.773) from the foul line to post its second-highest free throw percentage of the league slate. The Bears also connected on eight 3-pointers, including four by Johnson and three by Miller. Paced by Johnson, MSU continued its streak of Valley rebounding dominance with a 44-33 edge on the glass.
MSU picked up its third road win of the season and improved to 2-2 in conference games away from JQH Arena. The Bears also swept the regular-season series against Indiana State for the first time since the 2007-08 season. The teams had split the regular-season series each of the last seven seasons.
Indiana State converted 40 percent from the field with eight treys and 8-of-12 (.667) free throws to go with eight turnovers.
The last Bear to secure 20 rebounds in a game was Lee Campbell against Cleveland State on Jan. 22, 1990 at Hammons Student Center. Campbell snagged 20 boards twice in his career, which until Johnson's performance against Indiana State on Wednesday, was the only time during MSU's Division I era (1982-83 to present) a Bear has reached the 20-carom milestone.
The Bears will enter the weekend tied for third place in the MVC standings and return to JQH Arena on Saturday to battle Bradley at 2 p.m. on Hall of Fame weekend.
Tickets for the Bradley game may be purchased at the Old Missouri Bank Box Office or by phone at (417) 836-7678. Regular-priced tickets are also available anytime at MissouriStateBears.com with a special Springfield Cardinals $5 ticket special available exclusively at the box office.
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