Final Score (W-L)          1   2   F
MO State (7-11, 3-3 MVC)  34  27  61
Bradley (3-16, 1-5 MVC)   18  24  42
Attendance: 6,076 | Officials: Jeff Malham, Ed Crenshaw, Gene Grimshaw

Slow Start
Bradley got off to a slow start, opening 1-for-12 with five turnovers through the first 10+ minutes. Missouri State built an 18-6 lead during that stretch by starting 7-for-12 from the floor with a pair of old-fashioned 3-point plays included. Ryan Kreklow later added a 3-pointer at 7:49 to go in the first half to give Missouri State a 23-12 lead. After a brief stretch that saw the Braves make 4-of-6 field goal attempts, Bradley closed the half making only one of its final six attempts. Bradley finished the first half just 6-for-24 (.250) from the field, compared to a 13-for-24 (.542) first half for the Bears.

Cold Shooting Prevents Rally
Missouri State extended its 16-point halftime lead to 36-18 by scoring on its first possession of the second half. The Braves trimmed the deficit to 39-26 at the first media timeout and 42-30 by the second media timeout at 11:48. The Braves had a 3-pointer in the air coming out of the second media timeout, but missed on the attempt to slice the deficit into single digits. Continued cold shooting short-circuited Bradley's comeback efforts as the Braves endured an 0-for-9 stretch after Callum Barker's basket with 17:07 left in the game until he scored again with 3:50 remaining.

Bradley finished the game just 11-for-41 (.268) from the field.

Double-Doubles
Coming off 10 points and nine rebounds Wednesday at Loyola Chicago, Bradley freshman center Callum Barker recorded his first career double-double Saturday by finishing with 12 points and a career-best 13 rebounds. Missouri State's Obediah Church countered with 13 points and 13 rebounds for the Bears. Ronnie Suggs chipped in 12 points for Bradley, while the Bears got 12 points from Ryan Kreklow and 10 from Camyn Boone.

Paint Production
Seven of Missouri State's first eight baskets were scored inside the paint for an early, 14-0 advantage in points in the paint. The Bears owned an 18-4 points-in-the-paint advantage in the first half.

Freshmen Eight of 10 Starters
For the third consecutive game and the fourth time this season, Bradley utilized a starting five entirely made up of freshmen – Dwayne Lautier-Ogunleye (G), Antoine Pittman (G), Ronnie Suggs (G), Luuk van Bree (F) and Scottie James (C). Missouri State countered with three freshmen in its starting lineup – Obediah Churck, Jarred Dixon and Ryan Kreklow – making eight of the game's 10 starters freshmen.

Youthful PT
With sophomore Donte Thomas the only non-freshman available for action Saturday, Bradley played the entire 40 minutes with at least four freshmen on the floor for the fourth consecutive game. With 171 of the 200 minutes Saturday, Bradley's freshmen now have played 3,174 of a possible 3,850 individual minutes (.824) this season. While Bradley's opponents had totaled only 453 of a possible 3,650 minutes of freshmen playing time entering Saturday's game, four Missouri State freshmen combined to play 88 of the 200 individual minutes.

Free Throw Streaks
A pair of Braves extended their double-digit streaks of consecutive made free throws. Antoine Pittman (4-4) and Ronnie Suggs (2-2) both extended their streaks to 15 consecutive makes.

Up Next
As many as 10 Bradley freshmen, as well as first-year head coach Brian Wardle, could experience the I-74 Rivalry for the first time when Bradley hosts Illinois State Wednesday (7 p.m.) at Carver Arena. The Braves will follow up the rivalry game with consecutive games against The Valley's two 30-game winners from a year ago, Saturday (2 p.m.) at Wichita State and Jan. 27 (8 p.m.) against UNI at Carver Arena.

Missouri State returns home for its next two games, hosting Drake Wednesday (7:05 p.m.) and Southern Illinois Jan. 24 (3 p.m.) at JQH Arena.