Tahlequah, Okla. – The Missouri Southern men's basketball team went on a 7-0 run to start the second half and tied the game at 40, but NSU utilized a huge run to put the game out of reach and the Lions fell 78-48 tonight inside the NSU Events Center in Tahlequah.
 
Southern (12-8, 7-4 MIAA) was led offensively from Enis Memic as he scored 12 points on 6-8 shooting off the bench. Elyjah Clark scored 11, while LJ Ross added eight and Kinzer Lambert scored seven.
 
NSU (6-13, 2-8 MIAA) had three in double-figures, led by 22 from Lucas Antunez.
 
Southern went up 5-0 early on after a bucket and a three from Lambert. After the RiverHaks had tied it at five, a three from Clark and two quick layups from Ross had the Lions up 12-7 with 15:30 left.
 
A pair of layups from  Memic gave the Lions a 16-12 lead with 12:52 left and another layup from Memic pushed the lead to six (18-12) with 12:20 to go. The RiverHawks, however, went on a 10-0 run to take a 22-18 lead with 8:54 left. Southern tied it at 24 on a layup from Clark with 7:20 left and took a 27-26 lead on a three from Parker Jennings with 5:24 left.
 
Both teams traded baskets until back-to-back three's and a late tip in from the RiverHawks put NSU up 36-31 with 1:06 left and the Lions would trail 40-33 at the break.
 
Ross started the second half with a putback and Clark followed that up to get Southern within two. A fast-break bucket from Lambert then tied the game at 40 just two minutes into the half. NSU, however, went on a 15-3 run over the next seven minutes and led 55-43, forcing a Lions' timeout.
 
The run reached 25-3, before a layup from Walker stopped the run, but NSU led 67-45 with 6:17 left on the clock. The RiverHawks made 12 three pointers in the game to seal the win.
 
Southern shot 30 percent from the field on the night as a hot-shooting NSU squad went 46 from the field and long-range.
 
The Lions will be back in action on Saturday as Southern travels to Central Oklahoma. Tip off from Edmond is slated for 3:30 pm.