Pittsburg, Kan. – The Missouri Southern men's basketball team nearly overcame a seven-point halftime deficit, but fell 76-70 to St. Cloud State to open the season at the MIAA/NSIC Challenge in John Lance Arena.
 
The Lions (0-1) were led by 17 points each from L J Ross and Elyjah Clark. Ross finished with eight rebounds on 6-10 shooting, while Clark hit five three points and added six boards. CJ Carr had 12 points and four assists, while Enis Memic had ten points.
 
SCSU (1-0) got 25 points from Jon Averkamp and 23 from Brindley Theisen.
 
The Lions led by seven (16-9) early after three free throws from Koray Gilbert. The Huskies, however, went on an 8-0 run to take a 17-16 lead with 12:48 to go in the first half. The SCSU lead reached 16  (34-18) with six minutes to go, but a 12-2 run from the Lions, capped by a pair of freebies from Carr to cut the lead to 34-30. The lead was 38-31 at the break.
 
A three from SCSU's Theisen made the lead 43-31 with 17:52 to go, but a 9-0 run from the Lions, capped by a three from Clark, cut the lead to just two (49-47) with 12:14 left in the second half.
 
A three from Vince Fritz tied the score at 58 with 8:49 to play and after a pair of Ross free throws tied it again, a layup from Memic with 5:36 to go gave the Lions a 62-60 lead.
 
The teams traded points for the next two minutes before a layup from Averkamp gave SCSU a 66-65 lead that they wouldn't relinquish.
 
The Lions shot 44 percent from the field in the game, while SCSU shot 50 percent. Southern forced 19 Huskies turnovers, but couldn't capitalize, scoring just 14 points off of the miscues.
 
Southern will be back in action tomorrow evening as the Lions will take on Minnesota State in the tournament finale at 8 pm.