After advancing to the semifinals of the Arch Madness tournament, the Missouri State Bears will face off against the Drake Bulldogs.
The Bears defeated Valparaiso 67-58 in a team effort off junior guard Isiaih Mosley's 18 points, junior forward Donovan Clay’s 17 points and senior center Gaige Prim’s 16 points and 17 rebounds. All of Clay’s points came in the first half as he helped secure the win over his former team.
Missouri State's defense held Valpo to 36.1% shooting from the field, 16.7% from three, and forced 10 turnovers. Valpo's highest scoring player, Kobe King, came into the game with a season average of 14.4 points but was limited to five points in the game.
The Drake Bulldogs won their sixth straight game as they defeated Southern Illinois 65-52 to move on. Senior forward ShanQuan Hemphill scored a season-high 19 points to go along with 10 rebounds for his second double-double of the season. Freshman guard/forward Tucker DeVries and senior guard Roman Penn had 13 points apiece.
Garrett Strutz, Penn and Hemphill were named to Missouri Valley Conference Scholar-Athletes. Sturtz and Penn were named First Team while Hemphill earned an honorable mention nod. The scoring leader for the Bulldogs is DeVries with 13.6 points per game followed by Sturtz with 11 and Penn with 10.7.
This game will be a rematch of last year’s semifinal game. Drake won that game 71-69 on a Joseph Yesufu layup to send the Bulldogs to the championship.
Missouri State completed a regular season sweep facing the Bulldogs in the regular season. Head coach Dana Ford called the Bears’ last win over Drake in Des Moines one of the biggest wins of his career. This semifinals game marks the third straight for the Bears and the 10th time in program history for Drake. Tip-off is at 5 p.m. in St. Louis, and the game can be watched on the CBS Sports Network Channel.
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