Missouri State basketball can't finish late comeback at Indiana State in road letdown
Days after Missouri State locked up one of its best wins of the last decade, the Bears couldn't pull off a late comeback against one of the Missouri Valley's worst.
Missouri State (15-7, 6-3) fell to Indiana State (8-11, 1-6) in a 76-72 loss on Wednesday night in Terre Haute, Indiana.
The loss followed the Bears' win at then-No. 22 Loyola Chicago for the program's first victory over a ranked team since 2011. After recent days saw the Bears receive a small dose of national attention, the Bears couldn't build on the hype with a win at Indiana State.
The Bears will have an opportunity to quickly right the ship with last-place Evansville on Saturday with a 7 p.m. home game.
Indiana State made its mark by going 14-of-27 from beyond the arc with 11 makes coming in the first half — allowing it to take a 12-point lead into halftime. Five different Sycamores connected from deep with Nick Hittle and Zach Hobbs each hitting four.
Bears head coach Dana Ford said after the game during his postgame radio interview that his team wasn't surprised by what it saw but it didn't stay assignment-sound.
"We didn't quite defend the way we're more than capable of," Ford said. "We just didn't do a good enough job of getting our guys to be assignment correct and play with the necessary attention to detail. I have to try and do better at that."
On the flip side, the Bears were 7-for-29 from deep, which Ford said was too many. He said the ball and player movement weren't what they had been in order to get the offensive production they've become accustomed to while finishing the game 40 percent from the field.
Junior guard Isiaih Mosley finished the night with 25 points on 9-of-20 shooting to go along with 12 rebounds. The reigning national player of the week has scored 24 or more points in each of his last six games.
However, Mosley had his worst game of the night taking care of the ball as he finished with a game-high seven turnovers.
"I thought, collectively, (Indiana State) did a good job paying attention to him," Ford said. "The ball didn't move today and it's unfortunate that it was the case. Isiaih can play better than that."
Indiana State led by as many as 17 in the second half but the Bears still found a way to make it a game late.
Down 10 with under two minutes to go, the Bears went on an 8-0 run with Mosley scoring the first five and Ja'Monta Black sinking a deep 3 with 44 seconds to go.
Missouri State forced a shot-clock violation on Indiana State's next possession before Ja'Monta Black knocked down a deep triple with 44 seconds left to make it a two-point game. After getting a stop, Mosley had a driving layup blocked with under 10 seconds left and the Sycamores got the rebound.
After a foul, Indiana State hit its two free throws to put the game just out of reach as the Bears head into the second half of the conference race coming off a loss.
"We just need to get better on the back nine," Ford said. "There's no doubt in my mind that this group will be OK."
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: Bears have letdown loss at Indiana State
