Quincy, Ill. -- The Missouri Southern men's basketball program started strong and withstood a second-half surge from Quincy as the Lions defeated the Hawks, 97-86 today in the opening round of the Quincy Holiday Classic. 

The Lions (5-5) led the from start to finish as four scored in double-figures. Kinzer Lambert led the way with 24 points on 9-10 shooting and 5-6 from long range. Elyjah Clark scored 22 points and added three steals and three assists, going 7-12 from the field and 5-10 from the three-point line. CJ Carr had a double-double with 17 points and ten assists, while LJ Ross added 11 points. 

Quincy (2-8) was led by 31 points from Ryan Briscoe and 19 from Demetrius Houston. 

The Lions started on fire and led 22-1 with 13:14 left in the first half after a three from Braelon Walker. A three the next trip down from Lambert pushed the lead to 22 (25-3) and another three from Lambert with 11 seconds left on the clock gave the Lions a 54-29 lead going into the break. 

The lead was 26 (63-37) after a three from Carr with 15:40, but Quincy then went on a 32-10 run over the next seven minutes and cut the Southern lead to just four (73-69). The lead was five (88-83) with just under three to go, but Southern went on a 6-0 run to push the lead to 11 (94-83) and Southern made its free throws down the stretch to secure the win. 

Southern shot 53 percent from the field and 43 percent from behind the arc in the game. The Lions shot 60 percent from the field in the first half. Quincy shot 55 percent from the field but hit 64 percent of its shots in the second half. Southern had a 38-30 advantage in the paint and the Lions scored 28 points off of 15 Quincy turnovers. 

Southern will be back in action tomorrow afternoon as the Lions face off with Truman at 1 pm.