Ja’Kobi Gillespie looked like an all-MVC player against Missouri State. Photo by Landen Secrest.

If Belmont is going to have success in the Missouri Valley Conference tournament, which is its only path to the NCAA Tournament, then the Bruins are going to need to string together multiple games just like Saturday’s.

That’s when the Bruins asserted themselves as the superior team, met the opposition head on and hammered out a decisive 93-78 victory over Missouri State.

In St. Louis, the Bruins will need their Big Three of Cade Tyson, Malik Dia and Ja’Kobi Gillespie to play like they did Saturday.

Gillespie, who missed eight games because of a broken wrist, has played himself into All-MVC consideration. He orchestrated things for Belmont, both offensively and defensively. He careened around the court, seeking his own shot and looking for teammates on offense and making life difficult for Missouri State’s best player, Alton Mason on defense.

He finished with 24 points and five assists and the Bruins were a plus 23 when he was on the court.

Tyson, finally healthy after being slowed by a respiratory illness for weeks, looked like the player many thought would be all-league this season. He had 25 points and nine rebounds.

Dia battled the Bears’ physical front line all game and finished with 13 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 blocked shots.

“It was a great performance at this time of year to win by 15 against a good team in the Valley,’’ said Belmont coach Casey Alexander. “I’ll take it.

“I think if you want to look at the game at their place where we got outrebounded by 19, today we got toe-to-toe that’s a good indication that we were the tougher team.’’

When the Bruins lost to the Missouri State 87-80 earlier this season, they were outrebounded 46-27, giving up 10 offensive rebounds and 16 second-chance points. It was completely different this time, the rebounds were even, 35-35, and Missouri State had eight second chance points.

Other observations:

— Tyson said he has finally stopped coughing and was free to play 34 minutes, hitting 8 of 14 shots including 6 of 10 three-pointers. He was active defensively, too.

“I think I played OK,’’ he said. “I think I could have made a couple of more shots. My teammates put me a great shot to do what I like to do, shoot the ball.’’

— The Bruins average 23 three-point attempts per game but took 21 in the first half alone and finished with 38. They attempted 30 two-point shots. It was not a detriment because they made 16, 42 percent. Missouri State only have seven three-pointers.

“That’s not a strategy and it’s also not a negative,’’ said Alexander. “Our goal is to get a good shot.’’

— Gillespie guarded Mason most of the game and held him to 17 points (one below his average). Mason had to earn all of it as he was 6 of 16 from the field. An all-league caliber player, he did make up for it with five assists and seven rebounds.

“Mason’s a guy who can get a quick 30 on you,’’ said Alexander. “We really didn’t want to let him get going. Ja’Kobi’s always going to have the toughest assignment.’’

— More positives: The Bruins had 21 assists on 32 baskets, only nine turnovers. Defensively, they came up with eight steals.

— A negative: It was a grim outing for backup big man Brigham Rodgers, who fouled out in just under eight minutes of playing time and didn’t score.