Missouri guard Tamar Bates played with a lot of emotion in his return to his hometown of Kansas City, Missouri. The Tigers faced Seton Hall at the T-Mobile Center on Sunday. Despite the junior’s impressive performance with 22 points, Mizzou fell to the Pirates 93-87. Bates, a former Indiana Hoosier, delivered 15 of his points in the first half.
He made an immediate impact early, scoring eight of MU’s first 10 points. Bates’ first bucket, a three-pointer, came off a pass from forward Aidan Shaw following an offensive rebound. Moments later, Conner Vanover found Bates in the paint for a layup. Continuing his momentum, he sank another three on a fast break about a minute-and-a-half later, giving the Tigers a 10-8 lead with 14:57 remaining in the first half.
The guard contributed two more field goals towards the end of the first half. Sean East II assisted Bates in hitting his third three-pointer of the game. With 1:52 remaining in the half, he also finished a layup to cut Seton Hall’s lead to 38-34.
Photo Cred: KTGR
SHU dominated the second half with a 21-6 run over the first eight minutes. During this run, Bates picked up his third foul, which led to his substitution. Pirates guard Dre Davis extended Seton Hall’s lead to 63-44 with 12:02 remaining with a second-chance layup to extend their lead. He finished the matchup scoring 19 points and grabbing eight rebounds.
Al-Amir Dawes, Dylan Addae-Wusu, Kadary Richmond, and Davis combined for 78 of SHU’s points. Dawes led the Pirates with 25 points, adding three assists as well. Addae-Wusu contributed 20 points, six rebounds, and six assists, while Richmond scored 14 points.
Bates became instrumental in Missouri’s late-game comeback attempt, scoring five consecutive points to give the Tigers some life. With just over five minutes remaining, he made both free throws from the charity stripe. 16 seconds later, the Kansas City native nailed a three-pointer off East’s assist to reduce MU’s deficit to 76-66 with 4:45 remaining. Bates also scored a layup on a fast break with 30 seconds left to trim Seton Hall’s lead to 88-83.
Photo Cred: Yahoo Sports
The junior was perfect from beyond the arc on Sunday, shooting 4-for-4. Overall, he shot 7-for-12 (58%) from the field in his homecoming appearance. Missouri is set to face off against No. 16 Illinois on Friday at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis, Missouri at 8 P.M. for the annual Braggin’ Rights Rivalry showdown.
Photo Cred: Enterprise Center
