SPRINGFIELD – Missouri State blocked a school-record 16 shots and shot 60 percent in the second half to turn back visiting Newman University, 89-62, here Tuesday as the Bears improved to 3-0 on the young season.
Trey Williams Jr. led all players with a career-high 26 points for the home side, collecting 4 threes and dishing out 8 assists with just a single turnover. Malakih Cunningham added 18 points on 7-of-8 shooting and 4-for-4 beyond the arc. Andrej Acimovic and Dylan Rowe scored 11 points apiece to help the winning cause, while Ngundeng Ruey snagged a game-high 8 rebounds and matched a program record with 7 blocks.
Newman was led by Leslie Owens Jr. who scored 8 points, while Tory Homan recorded 6 rebounds, and Will Farrington buried a pair of threes off the bench.
After leading by a dozen at the intermission, Missouri State extended its lead to 20 before the under-16 media timeout and hovered there until the midway point in the final period. With just over 11 minutes remaining, Andrej Acimovic’s layup and Trey Williams’ free throws started a 15-2 run for Missouri State that included 11 points for Cunningham who buried three straight triples in the span of just over a minute, the last of which made it a 77-44 game.
The Bears held Newman without a field goal for seven-and-a-half minutes during the run and eventually stretched their lead to 36 on a layup by Kuol Kuol with five minutes to go.
Eleven different Mo State players found the scoring column which included 46 points in the paint and 33 bench points for the maroon side.
The Bears finished the evening 33-of-58 (.569) overall, 8-of-22 (.364) from downtown and 15-for-23 (.652) at the stripe with 17 assists and just 9 turnovers.
Ruey’s record-tying effort matched four other Bears with seven single-game rejections, including Scott Hawk (1977), Ricky Johnson (1983), Gaige Prim (2020) and N.J. Benson (2023). The previous team record of 14 blocked shots was achieved twice – vs. UNI (1990) and vs. Sam Houston (2023). The effort vs. Sam Houston was also the previous Great Southern Bank Arena high-water mark.
The Bears, who came into the night with the national lead in blocked shots per game (11.5), also matched the single-game high-water mark in Division I basketball this season.
Newman out-rebounded the Bears by a narrow 41-40 margin on the evening with 19 offensive boards. The Jets also collected 42 points off the bench and finished 17-of-69 (.246) overall from the field, 4-for-27 (.148) from distance and 24-of-28 (.857) at the line.
After five lead changes in the first 16 minutes of the game, the Bears ended the half on a 17-3 surge to lead 41-29 at the halfway point. Williams led Missouri State’s run, accounting for 14 points over the last six-plus minutes of the stanza to finish with 16 in the half.
Mo State was 15-of-28 (.536) from the field in the opening 30 minutes but ended the period making 6-of-6 down the stretch while holding Newman to 0-for-7 shooting in that same span.
On Monday, the Bears continue a five-game home stand when they entertain Abilene Christian at 7 p.m. Single-game tickets and parking are available at MissouriStateBears.com and at the Missouri State Box Office at Great Southern Bank Arena, (417) 836-7678, during regular box office hours.
Monday is also Missouri State faculty and staff appreciation night at Great Southern Bank Arena.
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