Missouri State basketball avoids Bahamas disaster by beating Oakland

Seventh place wasn't what Missouri State had in mind when it signed up for the Baha Mar Hoops Nassau Championship but it's at least better than eighth.

Missouri State (3-3) avoided total disaster in their multi-team event with a 76-64 win over Oakland (2-6) on Sunday afternoon in The Bahamas.

The win gives the Bears a better feeling heading into a two-game stretch against Missouri Valley Conference foes. They won't return to Springfield but will catch a flight to Chicago to play a 7 p.m. game on Wednesday against Illinois Chicago. They will then return to Springfield to host Bradley at 7 p.m. on Saturday.

It wasn't all pretty for the Bears, who trailed by 10 at one point in the first half, but they went on a few runs to come out with the win.

Down 10 with 8:39 left in the half, the Bears knocked down four 3's before the break with Bryan Trimble Jr. making three of them. James Graham made a 3 to give the Bears a three-point lead right before halftime. For the second day in a row, the Bears allowed a 3 right before halftime to go into intermission tied.

From then on, it was all Bears who started the second half on an 18-3 run and cruised to snapping their two-game losing streak. Five different Bears scored in double-digits while shooting above 50% in the second half. Trimble led the team with 14 points.

Former Missouri State guard Keaton Hervey scored 24 points on 7-of-11 shooting while making five 3-pointers for the Golden Grizzlies.

Arkansas transfer Chance Moore did not play in the game after injuring his hip during Saturday's loss to Ball State.

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.