DES MOINES, Iowa – Ja’Monta Black finished with six points, but they all came in the final minute to help lift Missouri State to a dramatic 66-62 come-from-behind win at Drake here Wednesday.
The Bears (18-8, 9-4 MVC) were led by 21 points from Gaige Prim and 14 points from Isiaih Mosley with Lu’Cye Patterson and Jaylen Minnett each pumping in 10 points. Mosley also had a game-high 11 rebounds.
The victory was Missouri State’s first road victory at Drake since 2017 and its first regular-season sweep of the Bulldogs since 2016.
The Bears trailed by as many as eight in the second half and trailed, 56-50, after a dunk by ShanQuan Hemphill with 5:56 to go that had the Knapp Center gathering of more than 3,300 on its feet.
But the Bears then turned to Prim who quickly got MSU back on track and within two points of the lead on back-to-back layups heading into the final media timeout.
From there, MSU got three straight defensive stops while close-range buckets by Patterson and Prim tied the game up, 58-58 at the 1:45 mark, and a pair of free throws from Black with a minute to go gave the Bears a two-point advantage and a lead they would never relinquish.
After another Bears’ stop, Mosley sank a pair of free throws to give MoState its biggest lead of the night, 62-58. Roman Penn got a length of the floor layup to keep Drake in the game, but on the ensuing in-bound play, Black broke free for an open layup with just 13 seconds to go to make it a four-point game once again.
Black would then put it out of reach with 8.3 seconds to go with another pair of free throws to give the Bears their fifth Valley road win of the season.
On the night, MSU finished 23-of-50 (.460) from the field, but was an even 12-for-24 in the second half. The Bears were also 4-for-15 (.267) from 3-point distance and an impressive 16-for-19 (.842) at the line with a 35-33 rebounding edge.
Minnett eclipsed 1,600 career points in the victory with his first double-figure scoring outing Dec. 30.
Drake finished 22-for-60 (.367) from the field, 3-of-15 (.200) from distance and 15-for-16 (.938) at the line.
Darnell Brodie, Hemphill and Garrett Sturtz led Drake with 12 points apiece.
The Bears led for just two minutes, 10 seconds in the contest.
In the first half, there were four ties and eight lead changes, but Drake took a narrow 30-29 lead into the intermission behind 10 points from Brodie and 20 points in the paint.
The Bears fell behind 8-0 out of the gates but held Drake to 8-for-29 from the field after that to get back in it. Mosley led the Bears’ resurgence with 12 first-half points, while Prim pitched in 11. They combined for 9 of MSU’s 11 first-half field goals with Minnett scoring the other two.
The Bears return to JQH Arena Saturday for a 3 p.m. matchup with Valparaiso. Tickets for the regionally-televised game are available at MissouriStateBears.com or by visiting the Old Missouri Bank Box Office at JQH Arena, (417) 836-7678, during regular box office hours.
