Kansas City, Mo. – The Missouri Southern men's basketball team saw its season come to a close tonight as the Lions fell 71-55 to 21^st ranked Fort Hays State University in the quarterfinals of the 2022 MIAA Basketball Tournament.
 
Southern (14-15) was led by seniors Stan Scott and RJ Smith. Scott finished with 20 points and eight rebounds, going 7-of-14 from the field, while Smith had 11 points and 10 rebounds. Avery Taggart scored 10 points, while Christian Bundy had nine points and ten rebounds.
 
"It's never easy seeing your season come to an end, but I think our players competed hard and I'm proud of them for that," said head coach Jeff Boschee. "I think we were playing well, but the cold spell hurt a lot. We play well at times and then just go into spurts where we're cold and that makes it hard to overcome against a team that is this good."
 
Fort Hays State (23-5) had three score in double-figures led by 24 points from Jared Vitztum.
 
Scott got the scoring started for the Lions with a pull-up jumper three minutes into the game as both teams were cold from the floor early on. A 7-0 run for the Lions capped by a jumper from Smith with 14 minutes on the clock gave the Lions a 9-3 lead at the first media timeout.
 
A pull-up jumper from Winston Dessesow with 10:45 left in the half gave the Lions a 16-6 lead, while a jumper from Scott with 8:54 left pushed the Lions' lead to nine (20-11). A layup from Smith off an assist from Taggart gave the Lions a 24-17 lead and a three-point play from Bundy with 4:46 to go made the score 27-19, Lions.
 
The Tigers answered and closed the half on a 16-3 run and took a 35-30 lead into the locker room.  
 
FHSU led by 14 (50-36) before a 7-0 run by the Lions cut the lead in half after a free throw from Bundy with 11:56 left. Southern cut the lead to seven multiple times but couldn't get any closer as the Tigers' stingy defense kept the Lions at bey.
 
The Lions shot 37 percent from the field and 75 percent from the free throw line. The Lions led the points in the paint battler (22-16), while also holding a 7-6 advantage in second-chance points and offensive rebounds (13-11).
 
Scott and Smith end their careers in the Green and Gold with Scott finishing as a two-time All-MIAA performer and career totals of 869 points and 377 rebounds. Smith finishes his career with 355 points and 267 boards.
 
"I felt like we competed tonight, and I thanked the kids for the countless hours of hard work they put in this season," Boschee said. "There are so many aspects of these guys that the public doesn't get to see, but our guys never quit. It's a testament to them and to our coaching staff."