Joplin, Mo. – The Missouri Southern men's basketball team led by 14 at halftime and cruised to a 77-66 victory today over Northeastern State on Robert Corn Court inside the Leggett & Platt Athletic Center.
 
Southern (11-7, 8-4 MIAA) was led by Stan Scott who had 21 points and 14 rebounds, while Avery Taggart posted 15 points and Christian Bundy scored 13. RJ Smith and Lawson Jenkins had seven points each as Smith saw his first action on the court since November 20.
 
NSU (10-10, 5-9 MIAA) picked up 23 points from Tyler Arnold.
 
Southern jumped out to a 9-2 lead after a three from Winston Dessesow two minutes into the game. A pull-up jumper from Scott with 15 minutes on the clock gave the Lions a 16-8 lead, while a layup from Taggart two minutes later pushed the lead to 21-8, Lions. Smith made his return to the lineup for the first time in two months with a layup to make the score 25-11 with 10:50 to go.
 
A layup from Jenkins with five minutes to go pushed the Southern lead to 31-19, while a dunk from Smith with 26 seconds left gave the Lions a 35-21 lead at the break.
 
A three from Taggart three minutes into the second half made the score 42-30, Lions, while a jumper from Martin Macenis with 12 minutes to go made the score 54-41. A three from Jenkins off an assist from Taggart pushed the score to 61-46 with 9:52 on the clock.
 
Back-to-back buckets from Smith and Scott made the score 66-50, while a dunk from Bundy made the score 68-52 which would be the largest lead of the second half.
 
The Lions shot 50 percent from the field and had a 12-2 advantage in points off turnovers.
 
Southern will be back at it on Tuesday as the Lions play at 5^th-ranked Northwest Missouri. Tip off from Bearcat Arena is set for 6 pm.