Missouri
Missouri State’s Chance Moore didn’t quit amid slump and reminded us what he’s capable of
Chance Moore was struggling. It was no secret. Everyone could see it.
The Missouri State junior guard is as talented as they come. It was only a matter of time before he emerged from his slump but game after game went by and shots just weren’t falling.
Bears head coach Dana Ford reminded him to stay aggressive in every part of his game. It’s what made him a great player before his slump and it was going to be the answer for when he came out of it.
So with the clock ticking down on Missouri State’s comeback attempt at Southern Illinois on Wednesday night, the junior found himself under the basket with the Bears down two. Alston Mason missed a good look before Moore came down with the rebound.
Moore stayed aggressive. He didn’t look anywhere else. He went back up and laid in the game-tying basket to force overtime before the Bears eventually won the game 76-75 while erasing a 12-point second-half deficit.
More: Missouri State basketball rallies for another overtime victory at Southern Illinois
“It feels good,” Moore said. “Coach told me to keep working, keep staying in the gym and I’m gonna find my way out eventually.”
Moore scored 13 points on 5 of 6 shooting with a pair of 3’s, including one in overtime. Without his play, the Bears wouldn’t be winners of their last three games as Missouri State continues to fight its way back after starting the month with a slump of its own.
Entering the game, Moore averaged 4.6 points per game and shot 21.6% from the field over the last seven games he played in. He was removed from the starting lineup and, at one point, was given a night off.
“I’m happy for Chance,” Ford said. “I love the kid. I’m happy for our team because in order for us to play our best basketball five or six weeks from now, he’s going to have to be a big part of that. It’s good for us.”
Moore was considered one of the Bears’ top two go-to scorers entering the season. Mason has emerged as Missouri State’s top scoring threat each night but Moore was still going to be needed.
More: How much did Missouri State basketball’s upset change the conversation around the program?
Before the start of the new year, Moore was who the Bears needed him to be as he averaged 13.8 points. When the Bears’ season hit a low point when they lost five of six games, the player everyone knew him to be couldn’t be found.
“It was tough for me,” Moore said. “Offense wasn’t going and I was just trying to focus really on defense, rebounding and just other ways to contribute to the game.”
Moore’s defense took a step forward in recent games. He was tasked, on occasion, with matching up with top scorers on opposing teams. He contributed to holding Drake superstar Tucker DeVries scoreless in the second half and overtime while leading the team in blocks in its comeback win over the Bulldogs.
He crashed the boards in the Bears’ win over Valparaiso, even when going 1 for 9 from the field in 17 minutes, but he put all of it behind him and helped the Bears come back to beat the Salukis.
“I just tried to stay positive,” Moore said. “I talked to my coaches, my teammates and my family. I just stayed in the lab and kept praying.”
More: A look at Missouri State’s 3 president finalists through a sports lens
It all added up to Moore’s comeback story amid Missouri State’s resurgence after it would have been easy to count the whole team out. A third-straight win going into Saturday’s home game with Belmont featured maybe the Bears’ most complete game of the season.
Mason didn’t put up the numbers that made him last week’s Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Week but others stood up. Donovan Clay scored 24 points which included the game-winning jumper with 4.8 seconds left in overtime. Mason still managed 13 points with Damien Mayo scoring 12 points and Cesare Edwards adding 12.
The defense came together and held the Salukis to just 6 for 23 shooting from the field in the second half. The Bears kept SIU from making a shot from the field after the Salukis took a 10-point lead with 5:08 remaining.
“I think we need to share the juice,” Ford said. “The more, the merrier. You know we’re capable. This is what we’re capable of. We have a deep team and once we get Matthew Lee playing to his capabilities, kind of like Chance did tonight, then we’ll continue to do this. But it was good to see us share the juice and get a lot of people involved.”
Moore’s breakout on Wednesday added to the comeback story that Missouri State is currently trying to write. At times, Moore had to feel like it was as bad as it gets. For Missouri State, there were times it appeared the team hit rock bottom.
But Moore didn’t quit. He listened to his teammates who encouraged him along the way. Clay, a senior leader, stayed in his ear and kept motivating him with a message that the entire team appeared to have taken to heart.
“He’s a great player and everybody knows he’s a great player,” Clay said. “I think he’s back and the main thing for Chance is moving on and that’s been the main thing for our team. I feel like he moved on tonight.”
Wyatt D. Wheeler is a reporter and columnist with the Springfield News-Leader. You can contact him at 417-371-6987, by email at wwheeler@news-leader.com or X at @WyattWheeler_NL.
Missouri
Roundup Settlement Offer Sent Back to State Court in Missouri
Missouri
Missouri Lottery Mega Millions, Pick 3 winning numbers for June 16, 2026
The Missouri Lottery offers several draw games for those aiming to win big.
Here’s a look at June 16, 2026, results for each game:
Winning Mega Millions numbers from June 16 drawing
12-20-53-67-70, Mega Ball: 12
Check Mega Millions payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Pick 3 numbers from June 16 drawing
Midday: 1-1-3
Midday Wild: 0
Evening: 5-0-3
Evening Wild: 6
Check Pick 3 payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Pick 4 numbers from June 16 drawing
Midday: 6-5-4-8
Midday Wild: 2
Evening: 1-7-9-9
Evening Wild: 6
Check Pick 4 payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Cash Pop numbers from June 16 drawing
Early Bird: 12
Morning: 15
Matinee: 07
Prime Time: 07
Night Owl: 06
Check Cash Pop payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Show Me Cash numbers from June 16 drawing
03-25-26-30-36
Check Show Me Cash payouts and previous drawings here.
Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results
Are you a winner? Here’s how to claim your lottery prize
All Missouri Lottery retailers can redeem prizes up to $600. For prizes over $600, winners have the option to submit their claim by mail or in person at one of Missouri Lottery’s regional offices, by appointment only.
To claim by mail, complete a Missouri Lottery winner claim form, sign your winning ticket, and include a copy of your government-issued photo ID along with a completed IRS Form W-9. Ensure your name, address, telephone number and signature are on the back of your ticket. Claims should be mailed to:
Ticket Redemption
Missouri Lottery
P.O. Box 7777
Jefferson City, MO 65102-7777
For in-person claims, visit the Missouri Lottery Headquarters in Jefferson City or one of the regional offices in Kansas City, Springfield or St. Louis. Be sure to call ahead to verify hours and check if an appointment is required.
For additional instructions or to download the claim form, visit the Missouri Lottery prize claim page.
When are the Missouri Lottery drawings held?
- Powerball: 9:59 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
- Mega Millions: 10 p.m. Tuesday and Friday.
- Pick 3: 12:45 p.m. (Midday) and 8:59 p.m. (Evening) daily.
- Pick 4: 12:45 p.m. (Midday) and 8:59 p.m. (Evening) daily.
- Cash4Life: 8 p.m. daily.
- Cash Pop: 8 a.m. (Early Bird), 11 a.m. (Late Morning), 3 p.m. (Matinee), 7 p.m. (Prime Time) and 11 p.m. (Night Owl) daily.
- Show Me Cash: 8:59 p.m. daily.
- Lotto: 8:59 p.m. Wednesday and Saturday.
- Powerball Double Play: 9:59 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a Missouri editor. You can send feedback using this form.
Missouri
Skydivers killed in Missouri plane crash found thrills and peace through jumping
A skydiving instructor who had made over 6,800 jumps. A drummer who was meticulous about safety since falling in love with the sport that helped him sober up. A software engineer on the cusp of becoming a certified skydiving coach. A grandfather honoring his sister lost to cancer.
Family and friends of the 11 jumpers and pilot killed when their plane crashed shortly after taking off in Missouri said they loved their hobby — whether it was to find personal peace or to share a once-in-a-lifetime experience with others. They remembered the experienced skydivers as people who may have had regular jobs to pay their bills but free falling brought both the thrill and the serenity they craved.
Blake Thacker, 25, jumped for seven years since first skydiving on his 18th birthday. He was set to get his skydiving coach certification over the weekend, his mother Sherry said.
“Skydiving had given him the confidence to do other things in his life, to be successful and reach for things maybe he thought he wasn’t good enough to do,” she said.
Thacker was an aviation software engineer and his mother saw that same methodical safety-oriented focus in his hobby.
“He said, ’Mom the danger in skydiving is really not the diving it’s the plane,’” she recalled.
Plane crashed shortly after takeoff
The plane was barely off the ground Sunday — only about 100 feet (30 meters) in the air — when it made an abrupt left turn before crashing on a sunny day. It appeared to be losing power, witnesses said.
This Sept. 2024 photo provided by Kathryn Nold shows Nold and her husband, Dustin McKinney, and their two kids in Stilwell, Kansas. Credit: AP/Kathryn Nold
Skydive Kansas City operated the single-engine turboprop Pacific Aerospace 750XL built in 2010 out of an airport in the small town of Butler, roughly 65 miles (105 kilometers) south of Kansas City.
The plane arrived in Butler for the first time on June 5, according to data from FlightRadar24.com. Pictures of the aircraft posted on social media showed it still had advertising from Chattanooga Skydiving Co. Its flight history showed it had previously been flying for weeks at a time in Tennessee and Wisconsin.
A woman who answered the phone at the Chattanooga Skydiving Co. hung up Tuesday when a reporter identified himself.
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating all factors leading to the crash including how much experience the pilot had with this model of plane and any mechanical or structural problems with the aircraft.
This undated photo provided by Gloria Shanahan shows Michael Shanahan in San Francisco. Credit: AP/Uncredited
The 12 people killed were identified as Thacker, Kurt John Roy, Michael Shanahan, David Hershberger, Sai Karthik Varma Datla, Matthew Swope, Dustin McKinney, Jen Sharp, Marcus Miller, Nicholas Nash, William Fischer and Dane Cordes, according to the Bates County Coroner’s Office.
Skydiving helped one jumper get sober
McKinney’s wife said her husband was meticulous about safety when he jumped after his love for skydiving prompted him to get sober seven years ago.
“It feels like this is the only way that skydiving could have taken out Dustin, because it was such a freak accident,” Kathryn Nold said. “It was the most horrific thing. It’s still very surreal.”
McKinney, 44, worked at a furniture store and played drums in Kansas City-area bands. The father of two also had a part-time paying gig as a videographer for Skydive Kansas City.
“He could just immediately make people feel seen and warm and want to be around him, and I just feel infinitely lucky that we were the center of his world and able to experience that love from him that he gave so effortlessly to everyone,” Nold said of her high school sweetheart.
Honoring his sister by jumping
Shanahan took up skydiving just before his older sister Nikki died from breast cancer in 2016, his mother said Tuesday.
“He wanted to live his life and make it worth having fun, having a good time, doing something he enjoyed, and skydiving was something he had always wanted to do, unbeknownst to us,” Gloria Shanahan told The Associated Press.
Shanahan honored his sister by skydiving on her birthday, Mother’s Day and the anniversary of her death. He then visited her grave.
Shanahan, 54, jumped Saturday just for fun. He booked Sunday’s jump as a backup in case the weather was bad but decided to go ahead and jump both days anyway, his mother said.
“We do not regret that he did. He got to live the life that he wanted to,” she said.
Shanahan’s skydiving instructor was Hershberger, who was on the plane with him Sunday. The two had another bond. Hershberger taught violin to two of Shanahan’s grandchildren.
Hershberger, 54, also taught orchestra and played trumpet with the Kansas City Wind Symphony. His summers were spent at Skydive Kansas City, often harnessed to inexperienced jumpers exhilarated and nervous to cross something off their bucket lists.
Skydiving to find out more about yourself
Sharp, 55, took her first jump in 1989 when she was 18. Some 6,800 jumps later, she was a legendary instructor at the highest levels of the sport and the coach for Thacker’s certification.
On her blog, Sharp wrote about how she jumped into Denver’s Coors Field ballpark while dressed as the queen of England and loved to go tandem with people skydiving for the first time and to see them test their resolve, grow personally and just feel alive.
“Being trained by Jen Sharp was like taking piano lessons from Beethoven,” her friend Greg Upper told The Associated Press, calling Sharp a philosopher. “That’s how big of a deal she was.”
Swope, 39, worked in IT, but every weekend he was up in the sky as he searched for any bit of fun, especially something he could share with others, his best friend, Justin Williams, said.
“He loved it. He gets to take people on their once-in-a-lifetime adventure every weekend, multiple times a day,” Williams said.
After Swope’s death, Williams said, he’s terrified to go skydiving again but also knows he has to because his friend knew to truly live is to take risks.
“It’s scary to be in the door, but the moment you let go, it dissolves away and induces a state of presence that you will not find anywhere else,” Williams said of free falling. “You don’t worry about the future. You’re not sad about the past. You’re just present, and it’s the most peaceful experience.”
The skydiving industry says it has a strong safety record. The United States Parachute Association said that last year nearly 3.5 million jumps were completed and that 16 civilians died, the majority from human error.
-
Texas3 minutes agoDPS trooper killed in Texas Panhandle crash, agency says
-
Utah10 minutes agoUtah first lady Abby Cox optimistic about legislative moves to strengthen child literacy
-
Vermont12 minutes agoVermont woman shot and injured by stray bullet at her home
-
Virginia17 minutes agoVirginia Beach Fire Department battles multi-family structure fire on Rookery Way
-
Washington25 minutes agoUpriver Fire Near Spokane Triggers Evacuations For 12,000 Residents Amid Critical Fire Conditions
-
Wisconsin27 minutes agoWisconsin DOJ probes fatal shooting by Oneida County officer
-
West Virginia32 minutes agoProposed 107.5-mile transmission line could leave W.Va. ratepayers on hook for $440M-$900M
-
Wyoming40 minutes agoWarrant issued for man suspected of false bomb tip at Banner-Wyoming Medical Center on May 19
