Tigers overcome 17-point deficit to defeat Hoosiers

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Linas Kleiza's jump shot was not working, judging from his 3-for-10 day. So he drew fouls most of the second half.

Kleiza scored 15 of his 18 points after the break, 11 of them on free throws, to help Missouri overcome a 17-point deficit in a 56-53 victory over Indiana on Saturday. He was 12-for-16 at the line, including a pair that put the Tigers ahead for good at 54-53 with 31 seconds left.

"That's the thing about me, I can play inside and outside," Kleiza said. "I just thought I had a big advantage inside, so I just went inside and got to the free-throw line."

Marshall Brown added 11 points off the bench, including a spinning dunk off a turnover with one second left, as Missouri beat Indiana with a big comeback for the second straight season. Last season, the Tigers (6-4) finished with a 21-2 run and won by five on the road.

Coach Quin Snyder said that comeback wasn't mentioned at halftime. Instead, he just increased the intensity and used a zone press to force Indiana out of its game.

"We said 'Hey, a lot of time left,'" Snyder said. "One bucket at a time."

Or in this case, one free throw at a time.

"I have no idea why you foul a guy that was 3-for-10 from the field," Indiana coach Mike Davis said. "But we did."

Bracey Wright had 12 points and three assists for Indiana despite breaking his nose in two places late in the first half on an intentional offensive foul by Spencer Laurie. Wearing a bandage over his nose, Wright hit two free throws with 1:12 to go for a 51-50 lead, but he lost control of the ball driving in the lane on Indiana's final possession with about four seconds left.

"It showed a lot of courage to come back and play," Davis said. "He was really woozy at halftime."

D.J. White had 13 points for Indiana (2-5), which has lost five in a row.

Indiana finished the first half on a 14-1 run, getting five points from Ratliff capped by a baseline shot at the buzzer for a 31-16 lead. Missouri shot 23 percent while scoring a season-low for points in the half, and didn't score a basket in the final 5:50 of the half after Glen Dandridge's 3-pointer.

Kleiza wasn't the only player making a concentrated effort to get to the line, with the Tigers going 18-for-26 overall after attempting just three in the first half.

"That's how we have to play," Snyder said. "We've just got to let ourselves have a chance to have something easy happen before we take a jump shot, and as a result you shoot a better percentage."

"We played a great first half," Davis said. "I thought in the second half we really let their press affect us. And every time they needed to make a play, they made one."

Davis said he also thought his team, nursing that big lead, began playing conservatively.

"We were playing not to lose instead of playing to win," Davis said.

Missouri shot only 23 percent in the first half, but was 10-for-12 in the second half. The biggest difference, though, was free throws.

Both teams endured cold spells, Missouri going more than 11 minutes between baskets in a drought spanning both halves and Indiana going 7:38 between points in the second half.

After the Hoosiers extended it to 16-1 early in the second half, Missouri answered with a 16-2 run that cut the deficit to three at 35-32 with 10:44 left. Indiana held off Missouri until Brown's 3-pointer tied it at 49 with 1:56 left, and there were five lead changes the rest of the way.