Both Missouri State basketball teams had bad days on Saturday
The Bears and Lady Bears had days to forget on Saturday as they played in their multi-team events.
Frustration is building around the men's basketball team, which is playing in The Bahamas, while a young Lady Bears team suffered their largest regular-season setback since the beginning of the 2017-18 season.
Here's what happened on Saturday:
Ball State 67, Missouri State men's basketball 64
The Bears were expected to go into this tournament and possibly come out with a win. Two losses later, they're playing in Sunday's seventh-place game.
A disappointing 67-64 loss to Ball State saw the Bears (2-3) go through rough stretches throughout a game they were heavily favored in.
The end of the first half proved to be a disaster when they had an 11-point lead with 1:48 left. The Cardinals rattled off eight straight points including a three-pointer at the buzzer to bring the game back within three.
Missouri State's largest lead for the remainder of the game turned into seven with 17:39 left, but the Bears underwent a shooting slump of over 11 minutes that wasn't broken until the final minute of the game. By then, Ball State built its lead up to 10 while the Bears continued to struggle from the free throw line.
Down 10 with 58 seconds to go, the Bears put on a furious comeback which had them cut the Cardinals' lead to two with nine seconds left. After Ball State made a free throw to put the Bears down by three, Donovan Clay drove down the court and attempted a layup and missed. Missouri State couldn't corral the ball and get a shot off, losing by three.
Chance Moore finished the game with a team-high 14 points in 14 minutes for the Bears. They shot 9-of-21 from deep and 42.6% overall from the field. The Bears shot 30% in the second half.
The Bears conclude their Bahamas stay against Oakland (2-5) at 11 a.m. on Sunday. The Golden Grizzlies are led by former Missouri State guard Keaton Hervey.
Middle Tennessee 79, Missouri State Lady Bears 54
The Lady Bears suffered their worst regular-season defeat since a 100-58 loss to then-No. 8 Baylor on Nov. 23, 2017. A 79-54 loss to Middle Tennessee capped off the Lady Bears' stay at the Las Vegas Invitational. They are now 2-3 this season.
MSU shot 31.5% in the game while going 3-for-13 from deep. No Lady Bear scored in double-figures and only Capria Brown (six points) shot 50%.
MTSU kept the Lady Bears from hitting a shot for the final 5:40 of the first quarter as it built its lead up to 10. The closest MSU got for the remainder of the game was four with MTSU outscoring MSU 40-28 in the second half.
Savannah Wheeler scored 24 points for MTSU with the team shooting 42.4% from the field and turning the Lady Bears over 19 times.
Missouri State will have some time off before traveling to Toledo on Dec. 4 for a noon game.
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 Twitter at @WyattWheeler_NL. He's also the co-host of Sports Talk on Jock Radio weekdays from 4-6 p.m.
This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Missouri State basketball loses to Ball State, Middle Tennessee
