Kyle Weems had 11 points after a scoreless first half and Missouri State relied on a strong effort from its bench to defeat Drake 60-51 on Tuesday night.
Reserves Nathan Scheer and Caleb Patterson added 10 points apiece for the Bears (21-6, 13-3), who remain tied for first with Wichita State in the Missouri Valley Conference.
Freshman Rayvonte Rice had 17 points and nine rebounds for the Bulldogs (11-16, 6-10).
Both teams struggled in the first half. Missouri State shot 33 percent from the field and Drake wasn't much better at 41 percent. Weems, who added 11 rebounds, missed all three of his shots in the first half, and the Bears were unable to capitalize on a Bulldogs scoring drought of nearly six minutes.
Drake failed to score a basket for nearly 12 minutes in the second half and shot just 29.6 percent after halftime.
