St. Joseph, Mo. – The Missouri Southern basketball team won its fifth game in a row and moved into a tie for second place in the MIAA as the Lions defeated Missouri Western 81-70 on the road tonight.
 
Southern (17-8, 12-4 MIAA) was led by a 20-point, 10-rebound, and three block performance from Kinzer Lambert. Lambert had a season-high 10 rebounds and tied a career-high with five three pointers in the win. CJ Carr had 24 points, six rebounds and seven assists, while Elyjah Clark scored 13 and Braelon Walker added 12.
 
Western (5-18, 3-13 MIAA) was led by 24 points from Lavon Hightower.
 
The Lions jumped out to an 8-2 lead after Lambert and Clark hit three's in the first two and a half minutes. The Griffons got within a point twice, the last at 10-9 with 11:12 left, but a 6-0 run from the Lions with two buckets from Carr, put the Lions up 24-16 with 5:17 to go.
 
A three from Walker gave the Lions a 29-21 lead with just more than three to go in the half and a dunk from Christian Bundy made the score 33-26 with just under a minute left. Clark hit a three as the buzzer wound down and the Lions went into the locker room leading 36-29 at the half.
 
A pair of free throws from LJ Ross gave the Lions a 49-36 lead four minutes into the second half, but Western fought back and got within three (49-46) with 12:08 before a three from Lambert put the Lions back up six (52-46).
 
A three-point play from Carr with 11:12 left gave the Lions a seven-point advantage (55-48) and a jumper from Carr with 8:30 to go pushed the lead to nine (59-50). The Griffons got back to within four (59-54), but a three from Clark the next trip down pushed the lead back to eight.
 
Southern led by just three (62-59) at the under-five media timeout, but a 7-0 run from the Lions extended the lead to ten (69-59) with 3:20 left, capped by a three from Walker. After the Lions had gone cold on a couple of possessions, Walker found Lambert alone in the corner for a three to put Southern back up ten (72-62) with 1:28 left. The Griffons got as close as nine, but that would be it.
 
Southern shot 51 percent from the field and 48 percent from long-range, while making 75 percent of its free throws. The Lions out rebounded Western 35-29.
 
Southern will be back in action on Saturday afternoon with a matchup at 6^th-ranked Northwest Missouri. Tipoff is slated for 3:30 pm.