Missouri State basketball's back was against the wall. It kept fighting to upset Drake
Against all odds, Missouri State put together one of its most thrilling victories of the Dana Ford era. It would be an understatement to say that the win was one the men's basketball program desperately needed.
It didn't matter that the Bears entered the night having lost five of their last six and hit some of the program's lowest lows in recent weeks.
It didn't matter that the Bears missed 15 consecutive shots in the first half and found themselves down 13 at the break.
It didn't matter that the Bears were going up against a Drake team contending for a Missouri Valley Conference championship.
All that mattered was that Missouri State came together when they needed to the most.
Somehow, someway, Missouri State (11-9, 3-6) emerged with a thrilling 83-80 double-overtime victory over Drake (16-4, 7-2). The 13-point rally tied the program's third-largest comeback victory.
A season on the brink of being dead and buried suddenly had a pulse.
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"It just shows the character of our team," star junior guard Alston Mason, who scored a career-high 36 points with 29 coming after halftime, said. "I know we're capable of being the team that started off this season really good and beating a lot of teams.
"Coming into this game was big for us because they were the No. 1 team and we thought we could wake people up and show who we can be. That was a very big game for us."
For now, never mind the double-digit losses to Bradley, Murray State and Indiana State or the collapses down the stretch to Northern Iowa and Drake. The Bears suddenly had a reason to celebrate when no one outside the program would have been surprised if they folded.
Moments sprinkled throughout the game saw the Bears battle back from similar adversity that they faced in previous losses.
Drake built its lead up to 13 at halftime behind the conference's reigning player of the year. Even after the Bears showed their heart and battled back to make it a two-point game, the Bulldogs responded by scoring six unanswered to go up by eight with just under six minutes remaining.
It appeared to be a script that Bears fans were all too familiar with and one that usually left them disappointed as they walked to their cars.
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But not on this night.
"I'm very proud of them," Ford said. "I thought they did a fantastic job with their energy, effort and enthusiasm and the execution and resiliency were nice. They just did the things that you have to do in order to beat a good team. I'm glad to see that they're still a good team in that locker room."
Mason's heroics saw him score 12 straight points for his team at one point over the final six minutes of regulation. Donovan Clay played lock-down defense on Tucker DeVries who scored 18 points in the first half and zero for the remainder of the game. He scored a critical bucket with 56 seconds left to cut the Bulldogs' lead to two. After Mason missed a game-winner with little time left, freshman Nick Kramer was there to get the rebound and put up the game-tying shot before the horn to force overtime.
And then throughout the two overtime periods, it was either Mason or Cesare Edwards getting the buckets the Bears needed. Edwards went the first 31 minutes without scoring a point and then scored 10 between the two overtime periods — which included a 3 with 3:05 left in the second overtime to give the Bears a lead they didn't give back.
Ford's three E's (effort, energy and enthusiasm) were all there for the majority of the 50 minutes. A game after Ford said his team wasn't competitive enough to win games finally showed its spirit.
"A lot of our struggles have just been from a disconnect and those things happen but they typically don't happen with so many guys at one time," Ford said. "When we were going through that... whatever, you gotta keep working hard. As a coach, we gotta make sure that we say the right thing to the right player at the right time to keep our connection. We've got to keep working hard."
The win and effort left many wondering where this Missouri State team had been. It had been missing since the Bears' final performance before the New Year when it went to Saint Mary's and came away with a 69-64 victory to cap off a non-conference season that had promising moments.
That Bears team had been missing in recent weeks until it popped up Wednesday night against one of the best teams in the league — a Drake team that beat the Bears by 17 in early December and might ultimately regret the loss when Indiana State and Bradley are also fighting atop the league standings for a regular season title.
Ford said he doesn't look at the performance and wonder why the same team hadn't shown up in previous weeks. He reverts to saying he's been a basketball coach and has had teams go through tough times and that many others are going through the same across the country.
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"It's not always fun but we've gotta understand that this is who we are and that this is where we've gotten ourselves," Ford said. "But the beauty is that we can come out of it and continue to play. If we could play well every game, we would but there's so much that goes into that.
"That's what I'm talking about with the connection and this and that... it's just a lot of work. Let's just appreciate this one today."
What's needed now is a bit of consistency. The Bears aren't going to win the MVC regular season title and odds are that they won't fight into the top four of the league and earn a first-round bye into the quarterfinals.
But any type of momentum the Bears can grab is something they'll happily take after one of the more frustrating stretches the program has faced over the last 10 years. They're certainly capable of finding a groove when they travel to Valparaiso (6-14, 2-7) on Saturday afternoon before heading to Southern Illinois (13-7, 5-4) which just snapped a three-game losing streak by beating the Beacons.
Missouri State will return home on Feb. 3 by hosting Belmont (11-9, 4-5) which has lost its last four games all by double-digits.
"Losing sucks; I hate losing," Mason said. "But when you get to a point where your back is to the wall, you got to fight out of it. That was kind of our approach. That was my approach tonight to be able to fight out of that position and get us into this position.
"This is a turning point for me and hopefully our team. Hopefully, we can just build on this."
Missouri State men's basketball vs. Drake notables
Mason's career-high 36 points saw him break Great Southern Bank Arena's record for attempted field goals at 28. Sixteen of those attempts came in the second half and no other player scored more than five points in the frame. He made five 3-pointers on 11 shots.
"He wants to do all he can do to help us win," Ford said. "From a scoring standpoint right now until we get some other guys making shots again and some other guys making some plays again, he's got to carry that load."
Chance Moore got some time for the Bears after sitting out against Illinois State due to a coach's decision. Moore has been struggling to find his shot but knocked down his first 3 in two weeks while finishing the game 1 for 8 from the field. His defense was notable as helped guard DeVries at times and led the team with three blocked shots.
"I thought Chance played a really good game," Ford said.
Fans would have liked to see Ford get his 100th win as the Bears' head coach earlier but it came Wednesday night. It's been a frustrating year for the fanbase around Ford and many have wondered if there was any chance of a midseason firing if the season continued to spiral. Wednesday night's performance should put any midseason change speculation to rest.
"You want to win them all," Ford said. "As a coach, that's kind of how you measure things. This was a good one. It's a good one. We needed it. I'm more happy for our guys because we needed to win. I'm happy that they played well because the talk every time we come in here is about who's playing well. Coaches can help with that and we can help with that, don't get me wrong. But we played well and I'm happy that our guys played well tonight."
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 X at @WyattWheeler_NL.
This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Missouri State basketball shows pulse despite poor start to MVC play
