St. Charles, Mo. – The Missouri Southern men's basketball team opened the second half on an 8-3 run and cruised to a 71-55 win today at Lindenwood inside Hyland Arena.
 
Southern (8-2, 4-0 MIAA) has started the year 4-0 in the MIAA for the first time since the 2010-11 season when the Lions went 4-0 to start MIAA play.
 
The Lions were led by CJ Carr with 19 points and five assists. He went 5-12 from the field and 8-8 from the free throw line. Lawrence Brown scored 16 points and added six rebounds, while Elyjah Clark had ten points, as well. LJ Ross scored six points and had a team-high eight rebounds.
 
Lindenwood (9-3, 1-1 MIAA) was led by Jackson Price with 11 points.
 
A pair of free throws from Carr with 15:01 left in the first half gave the Lions a 9-7 early lead. The Lions' lead was just one (15-14) with 9:40 left in the half, and 20-18 three minutes later, but a 12-2 run over the next three minutes from the Lions gave Southern a 32-20 lead with 3:13 left in the first half.
 
Lindenwood, however, answered right back and closed the half on an 11-3 run as Southern led 35-31 at the break.
 
A layup from Ross off an assist from Carr gave the Lions a 43-34 lead with 14:47 left in the second half. A jumper from Brown gave the Lions a 52-40 lead with ten minutes left in the half and a jumper from Brown pushed the lad to 57-45 with 6:55 to go.
 
A three from Carr with five to go increased the Lions' lead to 11 (62-51) and a beautiful no-look pass from Carr to Brown with 3:34 to go made the score 64-51. Buckets from Carr and Clark pushed the lead to 17 (68-51) with 2:16 left, while a three from Parker Jennings pushed the lead to 71-53.
 
The Lions shot 47 percent from the field and 36 percent from the three-point line, while making 81 percent of their free throws. Southern had a 35-28 advantage in rebounds, while finishing with 21 steals.
 
The Lions will be off for finals week, but will be back in action when Southern plays host to Arkansas Tech in non-conference action. Tip off from Robert Corn Court inside the Leggett & Platt Athletic Center is slated for 6 pm.