COLUMBIA, Mo. - Brad Loos called Saturday's Rally for Rhyan game a "celebration" now that his daughter has been cancer-free for more than a year, and the third iteration of the charity game raised more than $70,000 to fund pediatric care research.
Mississippi State almost spoiled that celebration, but Missouri held on to take an 89-85 overtime win against the Bulldogs at Mizzou Arena. The Tigers, who are now 3-0 in Rally for Rhyan games, won their fourth straight Southeastern Conference game, the first time Missouri has accomplished this feat since joining the conference prior to the 2012-13 season.
A 12-0 run by the Bulldogs in the final 1:37 of regulation forced overtime with the game tied at 79, and Mississippi State scored the first five points of the extra period to extend the run to 17.
But Jeremiah Tilmon drew a charge playing with four fouls and Kevin Puryear hit his first 3-pointer in a month - he was 0-for-12 between Jan. 10 and Saturday - to give Missouri a two-point lead with :10 remaining.
"I'd say it was tough," said Puryear, who was one of five Tigers to score in double figures, finishing with 13 points. "At the end of that 40 minutes, if you were really paying attention to the game, they had lots of momentum, and for us to come out and be gritty and resilient, really says a lot about the group of guys that we have and, really, just a growth moment for us."
Every Missouri player wore a warmup shirt with the name of a local child fighting pediatric cancer on the back, and Loos said after the game his wife, Jen, made sure Puryear got the shirt with Rhyan's name on it.
Puryear said he felt the 3 he made had added significance, given the context.
"Coach Loos was the one that really recruited me here, called me frequently, and really got to build a close relationship with him," Puryear said. "When all this happened my freshman year, it was really heartbreaking for him, and any time I can give him support, it's really big.
"This was an emotional game for the returning guys, and an emotional game in general, really. But it's for a good cause, raised a lot of money, and it was a great showing today."
Kassius Robertson scored 22 points and hit five 3s in 44 minutes and Jordan Geist added 17 points on 4-of-6 shooting from deep. Jordan Barnett had 15 points despite a poor shooting performance and Jontay Porter had 10 points.
For a while, the finish was looking all too similar to the Tigers' collapses against West Virginia and Florida, one a slow death by press and the other a single deflating play from the opponent. The Bulldogs pressed successfully in the final few minutes of the game, Lamar Peters made a steal and hit a dagger 3-pointer with :25 left to tie the game and send it to overtime after Missouri came up empty on its final possession of regulation.
"Us guards, we started too low, we didn't get open for the in-bounder," Geist said when asked why Mississippi State's press worked. "That's something we have to learn and take care of next time."
Peters scored 22 points to lead Mississippi State's five starters, who all scored in double figures. Nick Weatherspoon added 15, brother Quinndary Weatherspoon scored 13, Aric Holman had 14 and Abdul Ado scored 11 for the Bulldogs, who shot well above their season 3-point percentage of 28 percent to keep the Tigers close.
After the game, Mississippi State coach Ben Howland admitted to several coaching mistakes, one of which was not going to the full-court press sooner. He also said Tilmon and Porter were very prepared for the double teams Mississippi State (18-7, 6-6 SEC) sent and were looking to pass out of it immediately, and faulted himself for not calling off that tactic sooner.
Five technical fouls were handed out, all in the second half, as the game got testy. Reed Nikko and Xavian Stapleton received double technicals five minutes into the second half, Nick Weatherspoon was whistled for arguing with an official about a call against a teammate with 1:37 left, and Geist and Quinndary Weatherspoon bumped into each other near the Missouri bench with just more than a minute to play.
Missouri (17-8, 7-5 SEC) remained in a tie for fourth place in the SEC standings after Saturday's win, with Auburn, Tennessee and Florida ahead of the Tigers in descending order.
Missouri hosts Texas A&M at 6 p.m. Tuesday. The Aggies (17-8, 6-6 SEC) and beat the Tigers 60-49 in their Jan. 20 matchup in College Station.