NCAA
Missouri State 72, Loyola-Chicago 56
Jeff Hawkins is an award-winning sportswriter with more than four decades in the industry (print and digital media). A freelance writer/stay-at-home dad since 2008, Hawkins started his career with newspaper stints in Michigan, North Carolina, Florida, Upstate New York and Illinois, where he earned the 2004 APSE first-place award for column writing (under 40,000 circulation). As a beat writer, he covered NASCAR Winston Cup events at NHIS (1999-2003), the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks (2003-06) and the NFL's Carolina Panthers (2011-12). Hawkins penned four youth sports books, including a Michael Jordan biography. Hawkins' main hobbies include mountain bike riding, 5k trail runs at the Whitewater Center in Charlotte, N.C., and live music.
All posts by Jeff HawkinsUpdated26 Jan 2022
Junior forward Christian Kirk came off the bench to score 16 points, leading Missouri State to a 72-56 victory over visiting Loyola-Chicago on Tuesday night at JQH Arena in Springfield, Mo.
Kirk led three players who scored in double figures for Missouri State (19-10, 9-8 Missouri Valley Conference), which has won two in a row heading into Saturday’s showdown with No. 2 Wichita State. Senior forward Keith Pickens scored 14 points and senior forward Jarmar Gulley had 10 points and 10 rebounds.
Senior guard Tony Nixon scored 15 points for Loyola (9-20, 4-13), which has lost five in a row and eight of its last nine. Junior guard Joe Crisman scored 14 points.
Missouri State took the lead on a jumper by Gulley 21 seconds into the game and never trailed. Loyola briefly tied the game at 16-16 on a 3-pointer by sophomore forward Matt O’Leary with 11:27 to play in the opening period, but the Bears responded with a 7-0 run and took a 23-16 lead when Kirk converted a three-point play with 8:20 to go.
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The Bears stretched their lead to 10 on another three-point play by Kirk moments later and took a 41-27 lead into the locker room at the break after freshman guard Austin Ruder made a 3-pointer as time expired in the opening half. The Ramblers shot 52.2 percent from the field in the first half, but the Bears shot 57.1 percent.
Loyola outscored Missouri State 9-2 over the first five minutes of the second half to cut the deficit to seven, but the Bears mounted an 8-2 run to go up 51-38 on a dunk by Kirk with 11:03 remaining. The Ramblers again cut the deficit to single digits on a number of occasions over the final 10 minutes, but the Bears withstood the charge each time.
