Joplin, Mo. – The Missouri Southern men's basketball program withstood a tough Emporia State squad today to come away with a 77-74 win on Robert Corn Court inside the Leggett & Platt Athletic Center.
 
Southern (12-7, 7-3 MIAA) picked up a double-double from LJ Ross as he finished with 18 points and 11 rebounds. CJ Carr had 16 points and seven assists, while Elyjah Clark had 12 points and eight boards. Braelon Walker and Enis Memic had ten points each.
 
Emporia (8-10, 3-6 MIAA) was led by 27 points from Stephaun Limuel.
 
A layup from Memic with 13:32 left gave the Lions a 13-9 lead and a jumper from Carr with 11:10 pushed the lead to 17-11 and a three from Vince Fritz with 7:59 gave the Lions a 25-19 lead.
 
A 10-3 run, however by ESU, gave the Hornets a 29-28 lead with 2:55 left and forced a Southern timeout, but coming out of the timeout, Parker Jennings hit a three with 2:32 on the clock to give the Lions a 31-29 lead.
 
The teams traded baskets, but a pair of free throws from Memic with 42 seconds left gave the Lions a 34-32 halftime lead. A three from Carr with 16 minutes left and a layup from Ross the next trip down gave the Lions a 45-39 lead with 15:25 left in the second half.
 
The teams continued to trade baskets but a pair of free throws for Emporia had the Hornets up 53-51 with 11:52 to go. ESU led 58-53, but a layup from Carr and free throws from Clark cut the lead to one (58-57) and two more freebies from Memic gave the Lions a 59-58 lead with 8:41 left.
 
The Hornets answered back, however, as a three, followed up with five points off of Southern turnovers, gave ESU a 66-59 lead with 7:32 to go, forcing a Lions' timeout. Back-to-back three's from Carr and Clark cut the lead to three (68-65) with 4:15 left and after a steal from Clark, Walker converted a three-point play to tie the game at 70 with 3:19 left.
 
A bucket from Ross off an assist from Clark put the Lions up 74-73 with just over two minutes to play, and a free throw from Ross with 1:40 left made the score 75-73. A dunk from Ross off a steal from Carr and an assist from Lambert gave the Lions a 77-73 lead with 51 seconds left which proved to be the difference.
 
The Lions shot 49 percent from the field and 44 percent from long-range, while making 72 percent of their free throws.
 
The Lions will be back in action on January 24 when Southern travels to Northeastern State for a 7:30 battle with the RiverHawks.