KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (11/12/10) - Missouri State (2-0) led by 24 points with just over six minutes remaining in the game but junior Daniel Bryant hit three three-pointers to spark a 20-2 Red Wolves (0-2) run to cut the Missouri State lead to six with just three-minutes to go in the contest. But, the Arkansas State men's basketball team was unable to overtake the lead and fell to the Bears 80-71 in the opening round of the Dick's Sporting Goods NIT Season Tip-Off Monday night.

During the run, the Red Wolves held Missouri State to seven scoreless trips down the floor.

Bryant led all players with 20 on the night, scoring 14 in the second half on 7-16 shooting from the floor and 5-9 from three-point range. Kyle Weems led Missouri State with 18.

The Red Wolves will await the results of the Tennessee/Belmont game to determine their second-round opponent.

The first half was back and forth seeing 14 lead changes and six ties. The Red Wolves took a three-point lead in the first half when Bryant connected on a three at the 12:39 mark of the half to move the score to 17-14 in favor of A-State.

Weems scored the last seven points for Missouri State to lead the squad with 11 at the break and givet he Bears a 43-29 lead over ASU at the break. Junior forward Martavius Adams scored 10 points to lead the Red Wolves at the half.

Senior Jeremy Thomas hit a free-throw at 5:51 to begin the 20-2 run by ASU. Bryant rebounded the ensuing missed free-throw and hit his first three of the run at the 5:51 mark, cutting the MSU lead to 20.

Adams then stole the ball from MSU's Adam Leonard and feed Bryant for his second three of the run. Adams then hit two shots from the charity stripe to cut the Bears lead to 15.

Caleb Patterson then hit two free throws to push the Bears lead back to 17 (71-54), but on the next trip down the floor Bryant hit his third three of the run which was followed by two free-throws by sophomore guard Trey Finn.

Senior guard Rashad Allison then hit a free throw, Finn hit a three and sophomore forward Brandon Peterson stole an inbounds pass and dunked the ball to cap the run at 20-2 for ASU at the 3:04 mark.

ASU would get back within six with 1:31 remaining when Allison capitalized from beyond the three-point arc.

"I think we improved the last 10-12 minutes of the game," said ASU head coach John Brady. "I thought we started defending and made them uncomfortable with what they were doing. We turned them over a little bit and at one point we stopped them on seven consecutive trips down the floor. That's the effort that our team needs to play with and that's how we need to play to beat teams of quality."

Bryant led four Red Wolves scoring in double-digits. Adams had 15, leading the Red Wolves on the boards with nine rebounds; Finn had 13 and was 3-4 from three-point range while Peterson had 10 points and six boards.

ASU battled in the paint with the Bears being outscored 22-18 and were outrebounded 42-36. ASU did capitalize on turnovers scoring 10 points off the miscues to MSU's six.

If Tennessee loses to Belmont the Red Wolves will face the Vols at 6 p.m. (CST) in the second round of the NIT Season Tip-Off. If Belmont falls short, then ASU will meet them in the 8:30 p.m. contest at the Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville, Tenn.