Box Score
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. _ The hot-shooting Missouri State Bears did very little wrong Saturday night in rolling to a 101-61 victory over the University of Central Arkansas Bears before a crowd of 7,008 at the JQH Arena.
The home Bears (6-2) topped the 100-point mark for the first time this season and dominated both halves against UCA (2-5). MSU shot better than 70 percent for most of the second half and led by as much as 45 points. Six players scored in double figures for MSU, led by junior forward Kyle Weems with 20 points. For the game, MSU shot 61.3 percent overall (38 of 62) and 50 percent from three-point range (9 of 18).
“I certainly can’t take anything away from Missouri State because Coach (Cuonzo) Martin has his team ready to play with intensity,’ said UCA’s first-year head coach Corliss Williamson. “They approach the game with a business-like manner. But also, with our team, it’s something we’ve been warning our players about. We haven’t been practicing well this past week, and we knew if we came out flat against a good Missouri State team, something like this could definitely happen.
“It’s something we warned our guys about even before the SMU and Oklahoma State games. Fortunately in those games, we were able to stick around and hang in there. But tonight, we faced a team that came to work and was all about business. The end result was an embarrassing loss.’
Missouri State had three players in double figures in a dominating first half that saw the home Bears jump out to a 51-26 lead. MSU shot 60.6 percent from the field in the first half and made 6 of 11 from three-point range. Senior guard Adam Leonard was perfect from behind the arc, hitting 4 of 4. Weems was nearly as efficient, hitting two threes and scoring 13 points.
MSU jumped out to a 5-0 lead before UCA got its first point on a free throw by Mark Rutledge. Missouri State then outscored the Bears 18-6 over the next seven minutes for a 23-7 lead. Weems and Leonard had two three-pointers apiece during the run and Missouri State’s pressure defense completely stymied the UCA offense.
UCA went nearly five minutes without a point midway through the first half as MSU built its lead to as much as 29 points in the final two minutes of period. UCA made six free throws in the final minute of the half to set the halftime score at 51-26.
UCA shot 36.4 percent overall in the first half and had nine turnovers.
“You have to give them all the credit in the world,’ said Williamson. “Coach Martin has them running their sets, running their offense, with precision. It’s something we strive to do but we haven’t accomplished it yet. That team, they ran their sets, they hit the open man when they were open, they took good shots. As a result, they were able to take it to us.’
Midway through the second half, MSU was shooting 80 percent from the field and not allowing the Bears much of anything on the offensive end. Senior guard Imad Qahwash led the Bears with 12 points, while Rutledge, Dewan Clayborn and Chris Henson added 10 each. UCA shot 39.6 percent for the game and had 16 turnovers.
“We told our kids before the game, this is a physical team, it’s going to be a physical game for us,’ said Williamson. “They brought the fight to us and we never did respond. We never did get into our sets and we weren’t physical on the offensive or defensive end. I looked down the bench and I looked at their team and I looked at our team. Looked at their arms compared to our arms, we looked real skinny and weak out there. That’s just something we have to address.’
The Bears return to action on Wednesday when they host Tennessee-Martin at the Farris Center. Tipoff is 7 p.m.
