Mark Mitchell scored a game-high 22 points Thursday night and unbeaten Missouri pulled away from visiting South Dakota in the second half of a 102-68 nonconference win in Columbia.
Five other players reached double figures for the Tigers (6-0). Jevon Porter hit all nine of his field-goal attempts for a 19-point, 12-rebound double-double, while Jacob Crews added 15 points in a reserve role. Sebastian Mack chipped in 13, reserve Jayden Stone tallied 12 points and Anthony Robinson II contributed 11 points plus six assists.
Jordan Crawford scored 18 points to lead the Coyotes (3-3), which saw a three-game winning streak snapped. Isaac Bruns added 14 and Uzziah Buntyn came off the bench to hit for 10 points but South Dakota simply didn’t have enough firepower or defense to pull off the upset.
It was competitive for a half but Missouri was able to take an 11-point halftime lead and push it to 20 when Robinson fed Stone for a dunk with 11:23 left that made it 74-54. The margin reached as high as 35 in the final minute.
The Tigers canned 64.3% of their field-goal attempts for the game, converting a sizzling 19 of 27 in the second half, and sank 24 of 30 free throws. They also owned the rebounding battle 38-24 and earned a 56-24 advantage in points in the paint.
The Coyotes led for only 21 seconds in the first half but did a solid job of competing, largely because they were able to make 7 of 17 3-pointers. When Vince Buzelis canned a 3-pointer at the 8:47 mark, they owned a 26-25 edge.
However, Robinson put Missouri ahead for good with two free throws and started a 12-4 run, leading to a 37-30 advantage via Crews’ 3-pointer with 5:41 left. T.O. Barrett fed Robinson for a layup just before the halftime buzzer, enabling the Tigers to go up 53-42 at the break.
Missouri got to the 100-point mark for the second time this season on Crews’ layup with 1:15 remaining.
