Maryville, Mo. -- The Missouri Southern men's basketball team has defeated Northwest Missouri again as the Lions took out the 6th-ranked Bearcats, 73-70 tonight inside Bearcat Arena in Maryville. 

Southern (18-8, 13-4 MIAA) defeats its third ranked opponent of the year and has secured a first-round bye to the MIAA Tournament in Kansas City, guaranteeing the team one of the top four seeds in the tournament. 

CJ Carr showed why he is one of the leading candidates for MIAA Player of the Year as the senior scored 33 points in 40 minutes, adding nine rebounds and six three pointers to go with three assists. In two games against Northwest this year, Carr has scored 60 points, added 14 rebounds and seven assists, while playing 75 of the 80 minutes. Carr also hit a milestone as he went over 1,000 points in his career this game, becoming the 20th Lion to do that in MSSU history. Carr now has 1,013 points in his two-year career at Southern.

Elyjah Clark scored 14 points and had seven rebounds, while Kinzer Lambert had his second double-double of the season with 11 points and 10 rebounds.

Northwest (22-3, 14-3 MIAA) had four score in double-figures led by Xavier Kurth with 19 points. It is the first loss for Northwest Missouri at home since the 2014-15 season against Washburn. 

The Bearcats led by seven (14-7) with 12:42 to go in the first half and led again by six (24-18) with 8:14 to go. Southern, however, went on a 10-4 run to tie the game at 28 with 5:25 to go and took a 31-28 lead with 3:37 left on a three from Carr. Another three from Carr as time expired gave the Lions a 36-33 lead at the break. 

The Lions quickly opened up a nine-point lead (44-35) with 16:05 left in the second half after a three from Lambert, and Southern never trailed in the second half. Northwest got as close as one (71-70) but the Lions got a pair of free throws from Clark to ice the win. 

Southern shot 49 percent from the field and 42 percent from long-range, while making 72 percent of its free throws. Northwest Shot 51 percent from the field, but hit just 33 percent from beyond the arc. The Lions had a 33-25 advantage in rebounds, including an 11-6 advantage on the offensive boards which led to 12 second-chance points. Southern also had four players: Carr, Clark, Lambert and Braelon Walker play all 40 minutes of the game. 

The Lions will be back in action on Tuesday night as Southern will play host to Pittsburg State for Senior Night. Tip off from Robert Corn Court inside the Leggett & Platt Athletic Center is slated for 7:30 pm.