Kansas City, Mo. -- The Missouri Southern men's basketball team used three separate runs in the second half and defeated Missouri Western 82-70 today in the quarterfinals of the 2016 MIAA Tournament, played inside Municipal Auditorium.
Southern (18-11) got another huge game from All-MIAA performer
Taevaunn Prince as the senior led the team with 31 points, eight rebounds and four assists. He went 11-15 from the field and 8-9 from the free throw line.
DJ Feitl had 18 points off the bench, going 5-7 from the field, 4-4 from both long-range and the charity stripe.
Charlie Brown scored 17 points, all in the second half as he was a perfect 7-7 from the free throw line.
Prince also moved up the scoring record books at MSSU. His 31 points today give him 1,288 in his career, passing Russell Bland for 11th all-time and also making him the all-time leading scorer in Southern history for a two-year player.
Western (12-18) had three score in double-figures led by 23 from Aaron Emmanuel.
After the Griffons opened up a 6-0 lead to start the game, and led by six (10-4) with 13:44 to go in the first half, the Lions fought back and went on a 9-2 run to take a one-point lead (13-12) after a three from
Austin Wright midway through the half.
Western, again led in the half, the latest coming at 28-27 with 1:29 go Southern used a three from Feitl with 56 seconds left to go up two and led 30-29 at the break.
In the second half, the two teams traded baskets and leads before Western took a 48-44 lead with 11:51 to go after a free throw from Currie Byrd. That, however, was when the Lions took shape. Southern went on a 7-0 run to go up 51-48 with 10:05 left and used two more runs down the stretch, 12-6 and 8-0, the last putting Southern up 71-60 with 2:18 to go.
The Lions shot 50 percent from the field and 47 percent from long-range, while making 85 percent of their free throws (23-27). Southern out rebounded Western 30-29, and the Lions' bench out scored Western 26-8 on the afternoon.
Southern will now play in the 6 pm game on Saturday night against the winner of the Lincoln/Nebraska-Kearney game. It is the third year in a row the Lions have made the MIAA Semifinals.
