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Pressey pulls Missouri through

— Earlier in the season, Frank Haith acknowledged that Missouri’s offense ran through Laurence Bowers.

Not anymore.

For the third consecutive game, Phil Pressey dictated the pace in the second half and put the 12th-ranked Tigers in position to win. Unlike its last game, a three-point overtime loss at UCLA, Missouri scored down the stretch Saturday and managed to edge Bucknell 66-64.

Pressey scored a career high 26 points, mostly thanks to a career-best 10 made field goals. He single handedly kept the Tigers in the game during a 90-second stretch late in the second half by scoring seven consecutive points.

But Pressey’s performance almost went for naught.

The 5-11 point guard clanked the front-end of a 1-and-1 leading 64-63 with 10.3 seconds remaining. Bucknell’s Mike Muscala then bailed the Tigers out by stepping on the baseline with 4.1 left on the clock after catching a pass from Ryan Hill.

Earnest Ross made two free throws for the Tigers (11-2), but a foul by Jabari Brown put Muscala on the line for a final attempt to tie the game with 1.9 remaining. After making the first free throw, Missouri’s Stefan Jankovic grabbed the rebound on the second to end the game.

Muscala led the Bison (13-3) with 25 points and 14 rebounds. Cameron Ayers added 13 points and Bryson Johnson scored 11.

LSU 79, BETHUNE-COOKMAN 63

BATON ROUGE - Charles Carmouche’s 17 points and LSU used a balanced scoring attack to defeat Bethune-Cookman.

Carmouche also had 7 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 steals as the Tigers (9-2) led wire-to-wire after building a 19-4 lead in the game’s first eight minutes.

Shavon Coleman added 14 points and a game-high 12 rebounds, Anthony Hickey scored 14 and Andrew Del Piero added 10. Bethune Cookman (5-10) was paced by Adrien Coleman, who scored 16 of his game-high 24 points during the second half. Alex Smith also added 10 points for the Wildcats.

SOUTH CAROLINA 80, SOUTH CAROLINA STATE 69

COLUMBIA, S.C. - Lakeem Jackson tied a season-high with 16 points and three other South Carolina players scored 10-plus in a victory over South Carolina State.

Brian Richardson finished with 15 points, Breton Williams had 14 points and Damien Leonard added 10 for the Gamecocks (10-3), who played for the second consecutive game with eight scholarship players.

LaShay Page was dismissed from the team on Friday with an academic issue. Michael Carrera missed his second consecutive game with a hip injury and Bruce

Ellington has yet to rejoin the team since scoring the game-winning touchdown in South Carolina’s victory over Michigan in the Outback Bowl.

Matthew Hezekiah scored 24 points and grabbed 14 rebounds for South Carolina State (4-10).

ALABAMA 65, OAKLAND 45

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - Trevor Releford scored 18 points to lead Alabama past Oakland in its final nonconference game of the regular season.

Levi Randolph added 15 points and Rodney Cooper 11 for the Crimson Tide (8-5), while Moussa Gueye had nine rebounds and Trevor Lacey seven assists.

Alabama came into the game having lost five of its previous six games, including three consecutive at home. Duke Mondy had 11 points and Travis Bader 10 for Oakland (7-10).

SATURDAY’S GAMES

Arkansas 86, Delaware State 51 LSU 79, Bethune-Cookman 63 South Carolina 80, SC State 69 Alabama 65, Oakland 45 Missouri 66, Bucknell 64

TODAY’S GAME - All times Central

Florida at Yale, 4:30 p.m.

Sports, Pages 26 on 01/06/2013

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