Joplin, Mo. -- The Missouri Southern men's basketball team will come back home and play host to a pivotal MIAA matchup as the Lions take on Washburn Wednesday night. Tip off from Robert Corn Court inside the Leggett & Platt Athletic Center is slated for 7:30 pm.
Game Information
Teams: Missouri Southern (14-4, 5-3 MIAA) vs. Washburn (13-3, 6-1 MIAA)
Date: January 23, 2019
Tip-Off: 7:30 PM
Location: Joplin, Mo.
Site: Robert Corn Court/Leggett & Platt Athletic Center
Series Record: Washburn leads 48-31
Coaches: Jeff Boschee (90-49 overall/at MSSU - 5th year). Brett Ballard (35-13 overall/at WU - 2nd year)
Media Coverage
MSSU Radio: Mike McClure - Play by play - Fox Sports Joplin - 101.3, AM 1560, KXMS 88.7 FM
Internet Audio: http://www.mssulions.com
Live Video: http://themiaanetwork.com/mssulions
Live Stats: https://goriverhawksgo.com/sidearmstats/mbball/summary
Lions on Facebook: Facebook.com/mososports
Lions on Twitter: @mososports; @mssumensbball
The Series
Washburn holds a 48-31 lead in the series, but Southern has won 15 out of the last 20 games. Wsahburn leads 19-18 in games played in Joplin, and Washburn holds a 29-11 vs. MSSU in Topeka. The Lions lead 2-1, on neutral floors.The Lions have had few winning streaks in the series. The longest, five games, is the current streak and also spanned the years of 2007-09. The Ichabods won 11-straight from February 1984 through February 1989. Missouri Southern's most convincing victory was 37 points, 110-73, in 2013-14. Washburn's largest victory margin was 38 points, 94-56, and came in the 88-89 season.
NCAA Team Stat Leaders
The Lions, as a team, rank 11th in three point attempts, 14th in total assists, 16th in scoring margin, 17th in scoring, 18th in total three pointers made, and 19th in assist to turnover ratio. The team ranks 22nd in three pointers per game, 23rd in three point defense, 24th in field goal percentage, 25th in free throw attempts and assists per game, while ranking 29th in defensive rebounds, 31st in total rebounds, 41st in free throws made and 42nd in rebound margin.
NCAA Individual Stat Leaders
Cam Martin ranks fourth in field goal percentage, while ranking fifth in both double-doubles and free throw attempts. Martin ranks 12th in total rebounds, 15th in scoring, 21st in total field goals made and 38th in total rebounds. Reggie Tharp ranks 9th in assist to turnover ratio, while ranking 40th in total assists. Elyjah Clark is 18th in total minutes, 20th in three point attempts, 31st in total three pointers made and 34th in minutes per game.
MIAA Team Stat Leaders
The Lions, as a team, lead the MIAA in three point attempts, free throw attempts, scoring and total assists. The Lions rank second in assists per game, defensive rebounds per game, offensive rebounds per game, scoring margin, three point defense, three pointers per game, total three pointers made, total rebounds and total rebounds per game. Southern ranks third in assist to turnover ratio and rebound margin.
MIAA Individual Stat Leaders
Cam Martin leads the MIAA in double-doubles, field goal percentage, free throw attempts and free throws made. Elyjah Clark leads the MIAA in three point attempts, three pointers made and total minutes. Martin is second in the league in offensive rebounds per game, scoring, total field goals made and total points. Kinzer Lambert is second in three point attempts, while Reggie Tharp is third in total assists and Martin is third in total rebounds.
Preseason No. 1
The Lions were picked number one in the MIAA Preseason Coaches Poll this season.
Streak Stopper
Coming into the season Elyjah Clark had made a three pointer in 47-straight games, dating back to his freshman season. Clark, however, missed out on a three in the first game of the year, but has made a three in each game since, taking his current streak to 17.
Cam You Score A Lot?
Cam Martin tied a MSSU single-game record with 49 points at Minnesota State. The mark tied Carl Tyler from 1984. Coincidently, in his second game as a Lion, former guard CJ Carr scored 47 points against the same Minnesota State team two years ago.
Coach of the Year
Jeff Boschee was named the 2018 MIAA Coach of the Year. Boschee has coached the Lions to a 20-win season for the second time in his four-year career. Last year, the Lions were picked to finish sixth in the preseason coaches poll and the Lions finished the season second overall with two wins over regular-season MIAA Champ Northwest Missouri.
Three-Point Streak
The Lions failed to make a three-pointer at Arkansas Tech in their match-up in 2012-13. It was the first time in 403 games that Southern had failed to hit a three pointer, dating back to Jan. 20, 1999 against Missouri S&T. The Lions have had a three in 191-straight games since Arkansas Tech in 2012-13.
Dunk You Very Much
The Lions had nine dunks in the game against Baptist Bible on 11/29.
Records Abound
The Lions broke or tied four school records in the 137-50 win over Baptist Bible. Southern tied the school record for points in a game (137) and field goal attempts (95), while breaking the records for rebounds (77) and assists (37).
Three's Company
The Lions shattered the previous MSSU school record for three pointers in a game against Randall last year as Southern made 20 three pointers against the Saints. The previous record of 15 was set in 2003 against St. Gregory's.
Home Sweet Home
Missouri Southern can count on some of the best fan support in Division II. This season, the Lions rank 9th nationally in home attendance, averaging 1,526 fans per game. That number is fourth in the MIAA.
Holy Points Batman
The Lions scored 137 points against Baptist Bible to tie a school record. It was the most points since the scored 110 last year against Randall were the most the team has scored since they scored 113 against Southwest Baptist in 2014.
Super Tuesday
The Lions are 2-0 on Tuesday's this year and a perfect 8-0 in Jeff Boschee's tenure.
Corndogs Jackie
Southern is averaging 88 points per game this season and the Lions have topped the century mark five times.
Overtime's A Charm
For the third-straight time, the Lions and Minnesota State needed overtime to settle the score. The Lions won 100-98 this year and have won two of the three overtime games in the last three years between the two teams.
Bevo Francis Award Watchlist
Sophomore Cam Martin has been named to the Small College Basketball Bevo Francis Award Watchlist. The award is for the Division II Player of the Year.
Records Watch
Junior Elyjah Clark had the Missouri Southern single-season record for three pointers as a freshman with 89 and broke that record last year with 110. Clark has 251 career threes, passing Skyler Bowlin for second all-time against Central Oklahoma this year. He is 14 threes from tying the career record of 265 set by Austin Wright.
Reachin' A Grand
Elyjah Clark went over 1,000 points in his career with 18 points against Minnesota-Crookston in the Puerto Rico Tournament. He currently has 1,210 in his career and is the 21st person in MSSU history to crack the 1,000 point plateau. Clark has moved into 12th place all-time, passing both Marvin Townsend and Hiram Ocasio in the process. Next up is Russel Bland at 1,271 points.
Elyjah For Three
Clark has the top-two single-season three-point totals in MSSU history and his 251 threes made in his two-plus year career rank second. His career three-point percentage of .416 is second-best all-time, while he also tied the single-game record for three's made with nine. He has the season and career record for three pointers per game, while also holding the MSSU season and career record for consecutive games with a three (47).
Coaches Show
This year, Jeff Boschee and women's coach Ronnie Ressel will be part of the Missouri Southern Coaches Show. The show is Monday night's at 6 pm and originates from Hackett's Hot Wings in downtown Joplin. The show can be heard live on 101.3 FM, as well as streamed on www.mssulions.com.
Lions On The Radio
The majority of the Lions games this season can be heard on the Missouri Southern Radio Network in Joplin. Southern is partnering with Fox Sports Joplin, the Lions can be heard on 101.3 FM, 101.7 FM, 88.7 FM and AM 1560.
Lions on TV
All Missouri Southern conference home games will be brought to you live this season courtesy of KGCS TV in Joplin. Fans can catch the action over the air live on Digital Channel 22 as well as on local cable systems.
Up Next
The Lions will come play host to Emporia State this Saturday at 1:30 pm inside the Leggett & Platt Athletic Center.
