Jermaine Mallett and Adam Leonard scored 15 apiece, and Missouri State outrebounded Saint Louis by a 35-28 margin to secure a 73-63 non-conference win at Chaifetz Arena here Saturday.
The win gave Missouri State a 10-0 record for the first time since 1996-97 and just the second time in its Division I era.
Mallett's point output was a career best as the Bears improved their overall lead in the series against SLU to 16-7.
After holding a narrow 31-28 lead at the half, the Bears stormed out of the locker room with a 10-2 run to start the second half and quickly gain an 11-point advantage less than four minutes into the second period.
The Bears improved their lead to 13 with 10:12 to play on a three-pointer by Adam Leonard, his second of the game, to pull ahead 51-38. However, the Billikens (7-4) used a flurry of three-pointers that began at the 9:47 mark to pull within 53-49 at the 7:09 mark on Christian Salecich's second three of the half.
The Bears retaliated with a pair of jumpers by Adam Leonard and one by Caleb Patterson and regained a double-figure lead, 59-49 with 5:44 to play. Clutch free throw shooting down the stretch secured the win, Missouri State's ninth by a double-figure margin.
Cuonzo Martin's team made 26-of-30 (.867) free throws in the game and fired at a 52.2-percent clip in the second half to finish 22-for-50 (.440).
Weems added 11 for the Bears to extend his double-figure scoring streak to 11 straight games, while Will Creekmore scored 10, including 4-of-4 from the line.
Saint Louis was led by Willie Reed's 19 points, while Salecich and Justin Jordan contributed 15 apiece. The Billikens were 20-for-51 (.392) from the field and 18-of-23 (.783) at the line.
Missouri State closes out its non-conference schedule Tuesday at Arkansas (6-5) for a 7:05 p.m. start.
In the first half, the Bears were able to convert 9-of-11 free throws to help overcome a poor shooting performance, making just 10-of-27 (.370) from the field and just 2-of-11 (.182) from three-point range.
The Bears fought off a brief Billikens' 12-11 lead at the 12:12 mark with a 12-4 run that included buckets by Weems, Mallett and Leonard and eventually led 31-28 at the break.
Missouri State's best-ever season starts:
1948-49 - 21-0
1957-58 - 19-0
1950-51 - 13-0
1947-48 - 12-0
1958-59 - 12-0
1949-50 - 10-0
1996-97 - 10-0
Behind Jaleshia Roberson’s career-high 32 points and their best shooting effort in five seasons, the Missouri State Lady Bears sprinted past Oral Roberts, 99-81, Saturday afternoon at the Mabee Center. Roberson connected on 8-of-12 three-point attempts, including 5-of-7 in the second half to help MSU overcome the Golden Eagles’ high-powered offense and improve to 7-3 on the season.
Roberson, who went 12-of-19 from the floor overall, accounted for 16 points during a 30-15 run over an eight-minute span in the second half immediately after ORU had pulled to within 45-41. The Kansas City native sparked the run by draining a three at the 16:33 mark, then connected successfully on two more long-distance tries over the ensuing two minutes. Finally, her triple with 8:29 left capped the spurt and handed MSU a 19-point edge that the Golden Eagles would never seriously threaten.
The Lady Bears would stretch their lead to as many as 27 in the closing minutes, closing the game with their best offensive half of the season. MSU would outscore ORU 56-48 in the period while shooting a blazing .613 from the field, including a 7-of-13 (.538) effort from three-point range.
Four Lady Bears joined Roberson in double digits, including Jasmine Malone, who was a perfect 3-of-3 from beyond the arc. She totaled 15 points to go along with a team high seven rebounds and a career-high four assists. Melissa Busby also turned in a strong all-around effort, chipping in 16 points, three assists and two steals, while Casey Garrison contributed 10 points, eight assists, five boards and five steals.
Missouri State’s runaway victory didn’t come without a fight from the Golden Eagles, who entered the game averaging a Division I-best 90 points per contest. MSU connected on 18-of-37 (.486) field goal attempts in the opening period to overcome 12 early turnovers and take a 43-33 lead into the halftime locker room.
ORU jumped out to an early five-point lead on threes by Jaci Bigham and Georgia Jones, but the Lady Bears went to work from three-point range, drilling four threes over a four and-a-half minute stretch to build a nine-point advantage. Roberson would hit on three of her five attempts from long range and score 11 points in the half, and her second trey of the game with 12;54 to go snapped a 12-12 tie and gave the Lady Bears a lead they would never relinquish.
The Lady Bears would push their lead to as many as 13 late in the period, but ORU’s Kevi Luper kept the home team within striking distance with 12 first-half points.
The Golden Eagles (7-4) sliced into the MSU lead in the early stages of the second half by scoring eight of the first 10 points coming out of the break. A Jordan Pyle bucket at the 14:34 mark capped a 13-6 run for the Golden Eagles and trimmed the ORU deficit to 51-48.
But Roberson’s hot hand carried the Lady Bears, who would go on to post their best single-game shooting performance since hitting 57.6 percent of their field goal attempts against Texas A&M in the quarterfinal round of the 2005 WNIT (3/24/05). Saturday’s point total also represented MSU’s top offensive showing since March 8, 2003, when they recorded a 107-53 win over Evansville, and its best offensive effort on the road in nearly 18 years, dating back to a 109-45 win at Western Illinois on Feb. 13, 1992.
Drury broke open a tight game with an early second-half spurt and Dominique Long led four Panthers in double-figures with 17 points in an 82-64 victory over Northwest Missouri State Saturday evening in the 17th annual High Desert Classic at Desert Oasis High School.
The nationally 12th-ranked Panthers (8-2) were clinging to a 32-29 halftime advantage before opening up a 10-point cushion with a strong run over the first seven minutes of the second half. Drury pushed it as high as 22 points from there in posting a 1-1 finish in the High Desert Classic.
Drury led 44-39 with 15 minutes remaining before the Panthers outscored the Bearcats 12-0 over the next 4:09 - getting points from five different players - to open up a 56-39 advantage. From there, Northwest would get no closer than 15 points.
Long, who had a season-high 19 points in Friday's loss to Missouri Western, scored 13 points after halftime to lead DU's second-half surge. Chase Elliott finished with 15 points and Dennon Mitchell and Sahlih Butts added 13 points each for the Panthers.
Kim English had 18 points while going 3 for 5 from 3-point range, helping Missouri manhandle another home
opponent in an 88-70 victory over Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Saturday
night.
Justin Safford added nine points and nine rebounds and Michael Dixon had a season-best 13 points for the Tigers (7-3), who won their 25th in a row at home without their senior captain. Guard
J.T. Tiller served a one-game suspension after an early-morning
arrest over an unpaid speeding ticket earlier in the week.
Lebaron Weathers had 16 points and 12 rebounds for Arkansas-Pine
Bluff (0-9).
Missouri is 6-0 at home this season.
And Michael Washington had 25 points as Arkansas won its fourth straight game, slipping past Stephen F. Austin 72-69. The Hogs host Missouri St. in Fayetteville on Tuesday night.
