Jordan Geist scored a season-high 21 points as Missouri beat Oregon State 69-63 on Sunday in the first semifinal of the Paradise Jam in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands.
Missouri (3-1) will face the winner of No. 12 Kansas State or Penn in Monday's championship game. Those two schools played after Missouri's win. Oregon State will face the loser of that second game.
Geist scored most of his points at the foul line, hitting 12 of 15, while shooting 4 of 10 from the floor.
Kevin Puryear added 17 for the Tigers, who won despite shooting 38.2 percent. Puryear made 5 of 10 shots and also grabbed seven rebounds as Missouri won the fourth meeting between the schools, but the first since 1984.
Tres Tinkle paced the Beavers (3-1) with 17 points, 10 rebounds, and six assists. Stephen Thompson Jr. added 15 but shot 5 of 17 from the floor as the Beavers shot 40 percent and missed 18 of 24 3-pointers while committing 15 turnovers.
Missouri held a 32-28 lead by halftime and expanded it to 37-30 less than three minutes into the second half.
Oregon State roared back and took a 42-40 lead on a 3-pointer by Tinkle with 14:26 left and tied the game at 48 on a basket by Tinkle with 9:57 left.
The Tigers then scored the next 13 points to get a 61-48 lead on a jumper by Xavier Pinson with 5:38 left.
Thompson ended Oregon State's nearly five-minute scoreless drought on the next possession, but the Beavers did not get close until the final minute.
A tip-in by Tinkle made it 68-63 with 14 seconds left, but Geist hit one of two free throws with 13 seconds left, and the game ended when Alfred Hollins missed a 3-pointer and Thompson missed a jumper in the final seconds.
--Field Level Media
Oregon St. | Missouri | |
Tres Tinkle 17 | Scoring | Jordan Geist 21 |
Tres Tinkle 6 | Assists | Mark Smith 4 |
Tres Tinkle 10 | Rebounds | Kevin Puryear 7 |
Tres Tinkle 6 | Free Throws Made | Jordan Geist 12 |
Kylor Kelley 2 | Steals | Jordan Geist 1 |
Kylor Kelley 3 | Blocks | Reed Nikko 2 |
Team | Points | FG% | 3PM-3PA | FTM-FTA | Assists | Rebounds | Blocks | Steals | Turnovers |
Oregon St. | 63 | 40.0 | 6-24 | 9-14 | 11 | 36 | 3 | 5 | 15 |
Missouri | 69 | 38.2 | 5-17 | 22-28 | 10 | 27 | 3 | 5 | 9 |