Missouri State University

  Missouri State’s Barry Hinson earned his 200th career win as a college basketball head coach as his Bears played well in all phases of the game to run past the University of Northern Iowa Panthers, 71-54, in Missouri Valley Conference action Saturday night at Hammons Student Center.

 Hinson also earned his 164th win as Missouri State’s head coach to move into a tie with Eddie Matthews (1953-64) for fourth place on the all-time coaching win list at Missouri State. Hinson is in his ninth season as the Bears’ head mentor. His career mark is 200-137 and he’s 164-114 with the Bears.

 The Bears’ victory snapped a four-game losing streak for MSU as the Bruins climbed to 12-13 on the season and moved to within a game of sixth-place UNI in the MVC standings. The Bears are 5-8 in league play while dropping the Panthers to 6-7. Overall, UNI is 14-10 on the season.

 Missouri State took charge of the game midway through the first half, held a nine-point lead at halftime and pushed in front by as many as 24 points midway through the second period.

  "Our guys really played well tonight," said Hinson, "and they deserve the credit for this win. They just went out and relaxed and played as hard and as well as we have all season and we got a good result. I’m very proud of them."

  Missouri State senior forward Deven Mitchell tossed in two free throws at the 11:38 mark of the second half to become the 27th player in school history to reach the 1,000-point plateau. He finished with 13 points for the game and 1,004 for his 120-game Missouri State career.

 The Bears moved to 11-2 at home and snapped a string of three straight home setbacks to UNI. The Bears hit .491 (26/53) from the floor for the contest while holding UNI to 40 percent shooting, and the Bears committed just nine turnovers and had a 38-22 rebound margin. Missouri State drained nine of 18 three-point tries on the night.

 Missouri State senior forward Dale Lamberth led all scorers with 20 points and hauled in nine rebounds for the Bears while Justin Fuehrmeyer scored 11 points and handed out eight assists. Center Drew Richards, making his first start in 10 games after being sidelined for over a month with illness, scored five points and had eight rebounds for the Bears. Adam Viet and Jared Josten led UNI with 11 points each.

 With five league games and six regular-season games remaining, Missouri State goes back on the road Wednesday (Feb. 13) to face Illinois State in Normal, Ill. Tipoff is 7:05 p.m.