SPRINGFIELD, Mo.?Injuries and illness took a toll on Arkansas State prior to the game against Missouri State and the Bears took advantage as they cruised to an easy 84-55 victory over the Indians.
ASU (4-8), already without the services of Jerry Nichols and Korrel Henderson, had to go against MSU (7-1) without Dereke Tipler and Lorenzo Hampton for the game. Kitus Witherspoon played but was doubtful before hand with a back injury and Isaac Wells had a stomach illness that limited the junior on the night.
All that added up to an easy night for the Bears. The Indians took a 1-0 lead when Marcus Ardison connected on the first of two free throws. From there, MSU scored 13 straight before the Indians could manage to score again.
“We came in here short-handed, but even if we were 100 percent we'd still have a tough time beating these guys on their home court,” said head coach Dickey Nutt after the game. “Missouri State is a very good team and they're probably one of the top 20 or 25 teams in the country right now.”
Already down 40-25 at the half, MSU came out determined to put the game far out of reach in the first few minutes of the second half. A pair of free throws by Kellen Easley at the 16:23 mark gave MSU a 21 point edge.
“We couldn't get any good looks outside to start the second half and we had some foul situations with some key big men that limited us,” said Nutt. “I thought when Jim hit that jumper early on to cut the lead down to 15, we were going to start a little run there, but we just couldn't string any shots together.”
MSU's lead would go as high as 31 Shane Laurie connected with a short jumper to make the score 82-51 with just 1:52 remaining. Brandon Ballard followed that for the Indians with a 3 from the wing, another shot by Laurie and a free throw by Marcus Ardison gave the final score of 84-55.
The loss is the worst non-conference defeat since losing at Utah in the preseason NIT, 76-43, to start the 1999-2000 season. It is the worst loss overall since losing to Western Kentucky, 100-60, in the 2000-01 season.
Jim Jones' 15 points pace the Indians on the night with Witherspoon adding 10 points and six boards before fouling out. No other Indians reached double figures on the night.
MSU had five players score in double figures, led by Ahearn's 18. Tyler Chaney scored 15 on the night and Easley added 13 points and seven boards off the bench.
Easley's two free throws with 11:56 left in the first half gave the Bears a 14-1 lead over the Indians. Yual Banks, starting in place of the injured Tipler, connected on a 3-pointer from the right wing to give ASU its first field goal of the game.
“We were getting good enough looks at the basket early on but were shooting the ball like we were tight,” said Nutt. “And once the first few missed, we became even tighter. That is one of the areas we knew could be a problem playing so many different players out there.”
Nutt and his assistants decided at Thursday's practice to go ahead and play freshman Kyle Wray, removing the chance for him to get a redshirt season. But Wray was eager for the chance to help his team.
The loss is the fourth straight for the Indians, the longest non-conference losing skid since losing the first four of the 1999-2000 season.
Kyle Wray, a freshman from Searcy, saw his first collegiate action when he was called upon to help the short-handed Indians. He responded with four points on 2-of-5 shooting and two rebounds. His effort and attitude impressed his coach.
“Kyle really gave us some good minutes out there even though he was pretty scared at first,” said Nutt. “He's a good player and never hesitated when we told him we were going to go ahead and play him this late in the season. He just said whatever we needed him to do, he'd do it.”
MSU substituted liberally throughout the game, playing eight players at least 16 minutes on the night. The Indians, without leading scorer Tipler and Lorenzo Hampton, were forced to start Banks at the point guard position and bring in Wray for his first game action.
“Yual gave us some outstanding minutes and I'm very proud of the way he stepped in there and played in his first start for us,” said Nutt. “I am not sure when Dereke will be able to make it back out there for us with his bad knees, but we've got a lot of confidence in Yual's ability to run the show for us. He gets better every minute he's on the court.”
ASU gets a break for Christmas before facing Arkansas-Pine Bluff on December 28th at the Convocation Center. Tipoff for that game is slated for 8:05 p.m.
