Missouri State & Belmont Advance
(St. Louis, MO) – Missouri State and Belmont dominated their games as Arch Madness fans witnessed two session one blowouts. The Bears blasted Murray State (60-35) and Belmont blew past Valparaiso (86-61).
Each team advances to the Missouri Valley Conference tournament’s quarterfinal round.
The winners each did most of their offensive damage in the paint and were able to rest their starters much of the second half of their respective games.
Bears Shut Down Racers
Missouri State threw a blanket over the Murray State offense, limiting the Racers to a 21.1 percent shooting percentage pounded them into submission with bucket after bucket in the ‘restricted area’. Bear players outscored Murray 26 to 12 in ‘points in the paint’ and out rebounded the Racers 41 to 35.
Ironically, it was Missouri State guard Alston Mason that led all scorers with 22 points. Forward N.J. Benson collected a double-double (10 points & 12 rebounds).
Murray State finishes the season with a record of 12-20.
Ninth seeded Missouri State (17-15) advances to the Arch Madness quarterfinals, and a date with conference champion Indiana State (26-5). Missouri State’s 17 wins ties for the second most during Dana Ford’s six-year tenure with the Bears. Game time is set for noon on Friday.
Belmont Blitzes Valpo
Post play. Belmont’s two post players combined for 37 points and 14 rebounds. Malik Dia tallied 22 of those points and ten of the rebounds and freshman Brigham Rogers came off the bench to score 15. The Bruins outscored the Beacons 40-24 in the paint advanced with an 86-61 victory.
Belmont (20-12) has now reached the twenty-win plateau for the fourteenth straight season. Valparaiso finishes the season with a record of 7-25. Isaiah Stafford led the Beacons scoring 20 points. Belmont recorded 24 assists.
Belmont meets Northern Iowa (18-13) at 2:30 pm. The teams split their regular season games with each team winning away from home.
After two session one blowouts, worthy opponents await.
Both games can be seen on MVC TV and heard on The Big 550, KTRS.
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Editor: Cover photo credit Foster Edwards
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