(St. Louis, MO) – Three high drama games and three overtimes were played in the Missouri Valley Conference Wednesday. Sure Illinois State blew out Bradley, but the other three games couldn’t have been closer, nor more dramatic, and illustrated how balanced the Valley is behind the Redbirds and Wichita State.
Alize Johnson – missouristatebears.com
Missouri State (13-7, 4-3) edged Indiana State 73-68, handing the Sycamores (7-12, 1-6) their seventh loss of six or fewer points. Bear forward Alize Johnson played one of the best games of any Valley player this season, as the 6’9 forward scored 26 points and grabbed 20 rebounds for his league leading 11th double-double. Dequon Miller chipped in 24 for the winners. ISU guard Brenton Scott scored 27 points in defeat.
Bennett Koch – unipanthers.com
It took two overtimes, but Northern Iowa (7-11, 2-5) won their second straight game by edging Loyola (13-7, 3-4) 72-69. Bennett Koch put up his second straight 21-point performance. Koch scored all 21 points in the second half, scoring 15 of his 21 points from the free-throw line. The Panthers were 2-6 in Valley play last year and finished 11-7. Perhaps head coach Ben Jacobson is putting together another second half surge.
It only took one overtime for Drake (6-13, 4-3) to win their fifth straight home game and move into a tie with Missouri State and Southern Illinois (11-9, 4-3) who they edged Wednesday 88-84. Drake has won three of their last four games, as Reed Timmer (20), Ore Arogundade (19) and De’Antae McMurray (18) were the offensive sparks for head coach Jeff Rutter. The Bulldogs are 5-6 under Rutter after opening the season 1-7 under Ray Giacoletti.
Illinois State’s 20 point win (69-49) moved the Redbirds to 7-0 and one game ahead of Wichita State (16-4, 6-1), but after those two top dogs, the standings are a mess. Drake, Missouri State and SIU are 4-3, while Loyola and Bradley (8-12) are 3-4. Lurking one game back is Northern Iowa at 2-5.
Deontae Hawkins led the Redbirds (15-4), winners of eight straight games, with 20 points and ten rebounds.
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