Missouri State would push but the No. 23 team in the country wouldn’t budge while sending the Bears to the third-place game in the Las Vegas Classic.
No. 23 USC (12-0) would score 15 of their last 17 points at the free throw line while MSU (8-4) attempted to rally in the second half.
“We just couldn’t make a final push,” Bears head coach Paul Lusk said in his postgame radio show. “They weren’t helping us with their free throws.”
MSU started to threaten USC late in the second half when Alize Johnson caught fire.
The junior forward would score 16 of his 17 in the second half.