Missouri State basketball takes down Oral Roberts behind Isiaih Mosley's 25 points
Clutch defensive stops and great play down the stretch gave the Bears their first close victory of the season.
Missouri State (6-4, 0-1) has won two in a row following a 69-60 win over Oral Roberts (5-5) on Saturday afternoon at JQH Arena.
Junior star Isiaih Mosley led the Bears with 25 points and eight rebounds. He went toe-to-toe offensively with Oral Roberts guard Max Abmas, who is considered one of the best players in the country, who finished the game with 19 points.
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A sluggish first half saw both teams struggle from the field while shooting less than 35 percent. Neither team led by more than six.
Mosley was the Bears' main source of offense as he scored more than half the Bears' first-half points. He started 6-of-12 from the field and scored 14 when the Bears led 27-25 at halftime.
Oral Roberts, which led the nation in makes from beyond the arc entering the game, was held to three 3-pointers in the first half. Abmas scored eight points and his team turned the ball over nine times.
In the second half, ORU brought the game back within one but could never claim a lead. Over a stretch midway through the second half, Mosley found his rhythm, again, and rattled off nine of MSU's 14 points and built its lead up to eight. After drawing the attention of the defense, it collapsed on him where he dropped it off to an open Lu'Cye Patterson underneath for an easy bucket to go up 46-54 with 5:41 to go.
Late in the game, freshman Isaac Haney checked in and came away with steals on back-to-back possessions. The second steal set up what proved to be a Patterson dagger 3-pointer to put the Bears up by nine with 2:31 left. Haney followed by forcing a turnover with tough play on the defensive end.
Abmas made a running 3-pointer to bring the Golden Eagles back within six with 49 seconds remaining. ORU was forced to play the free-throw game the rest of the way as the Bears put the game away.
MSU held one of the best 3-point-shooting teams in the country to just 7-of-26 from beyond the arc. The Bears, who have depended on the 3-point game for their own offense, only went 4-of-21 but still secured the win.
Defensively, the Bears forced 16 turnovers and capitalized to score 20 points off of them.
Ja'Monta Black scored 16 points for the Bears while Haney scored three but came away with four critical steals and played tough, needed defense when he was on the court.
MSU will remain at home to take on one of the better mid-major programs in the country. The Bears will host South Dakota State (9-3) on Wednesday at 6 p.m.
Wyatt D. Wheeler is a reporter and columnist with the Springfield News-Leader. You can contact him at 417-371-6987, by email at wwheeler@news-leader.com or Twitter at @WyattWheeler_NL. He's also the co-host of Sports Talk on Jock Radio weekdays from 4-6 p.m.
This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Missouri State basketball: Bears top Oral Roberts for second-straight
