SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - Missouri State junior forward Kyle Weems made 6-of-7 3-piont field goal attempts to highlight a game-high 27-point scoring effort, leading the host Bears (19-6, 11-3 MVC) to a 77-79 Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball win against Bradley (8-17, 2-12 MVC) Wednesday night at JQH Arena.

Bradley, which saw its two-game winning streak snapped, got a team-high 20 points from senior guard Dodie Dunson and freshman center Jordan Prosser matched his career-best with 12 points.  Senior guard Andrew Warren came into the game leading The Valley in scoring at 19.3 points per game, but was held to 12 points.  Warren also came into the game leading The Valley in free throw attempts and percentage, but did not get to the line for just the third time all season.

In addition to Weems, Missouri State got double-digit scoring efforts from guard Jermaine Mallett (16 points) and center Will Creekmore (11).  Both players shared game-high rebound honors with seven each.

Bradley withstood a hot shooting start by the Bears, and after falling behind 12-2 in the first 3:42, answered with a 13-0 run in a span of 3-minutes, 10-seconds to take a 15-12 lead.  Following seven ties and four lead changes, Bradley took a 36-35 lead into halftime.  While Missouri State made 8-of-17 3-point field goal tries in the first half, the Braves countered by shooting 57.7 percent (15-26) overall from the floor in the opening stanza.

Missouri State came out strong again to start the second half, using a 9-2 burst to open the half to build a 44-38 advantage.  Bradley continued to hang between three and six points, though, until a 4-0 Bradley burst pulled the Braves even at 53-53 with 7:56 left and a Dunson layup gave the Braves a 57-56 advantage with 6:02 remaining.  A Prosser basket in the post pushed the lead to 59-56 and forced Missouri State to take a timeout with 5:25 to go.

Freshman guard Nathan Scheer drilled a corner three out of the timeout to forge another tie and the Bears eventually reclaimed the lead, 66-63, when Weems buried his sixth 3-pointer with 3:11 left.  After missing his first eight 3-point attempts, Adam Leonard hit a dagger when he bagged his ninth try from behind the arc with 1:53 left for a 69-63 edge.

Two free throws by Dunson and a paint jumper by Walt Lemon Jr. got the Braves back within 69-67, but the Bears made 8-of-8 free throws in the final 45 seconds to close out the win.

The Braves will return home for their next two games, beginning with the annual Hall of Fame Game Saturday night versus Evansville at Carver Arena.  The Bradley Athletics Hall of Fame Class of 2011 - longtime public address announcer Paul Herzog, cross country and track All-American Mary Ellen Hill and longtime baseball coach Dewey Kalmer - will be inducted during a halftime ceremony Wednesday.