Joplin, Mo. – The Missouri Southern men's basketball program picked up a 70-50 win over Washburn tonight inside the Leggett & Platt Athletic Center, pushing the winning streak to seven.
The Lions (11-4, 7-2 MIAA) were led by Christian Bundy with 16 points and 13 rebounds for his second double-double of the season. Avery Taggart filled the stat sheet with 13 points, six assists, five rebounds and two steals. Winston Dessesow had 12 points and five rebounds while Vinson Sigmon Jr. had 11 points, six assists, six rebounds and a steal. Sam Thompson had a bench-high nine points and eight rebounds to go with a career-high four blocks.
Washburn (5-9, 2-6 MIAA) was led by Jarmell Johnson with 15 points from the bench, Brady Christiansen had eight rebounds to lead the team with Tyler Nelson and Michael Keegan dishing out two assists each.
As a team the Lions held the advantage over the Ichabods in field goal percentage 50.0-30.8, free throws made 9-5, free throw percentage 75.0-41.7, rebounds 44-33, defensive rebounds 38-22, assists 19-6, blocks 8-1, fast break points 13-8, points in the paint 42-24 and second chance points 6-4 while holding a lead for 38:03 of the game and holding Washburn to its lowest scoring output in series history.
In the first half the first five minutes of the game saw three lead changes and a tie as a Dessesow three at 15:10 put the Lions ahead 12-10. Following that three the Lions reeled off 13 unanswered points making it 25-10 with 8:57 to go thanks to a Sigmon Jr. three with Isaiah Holden picking up the assist. For the rest of the half, Washburn went on a 9-2 run to make it a nine point game but a 10-2 response by Southern ultimately led to a 38-25 halftime score.
The second half saw the Lions utilize an 11-5 run capped off by a pair of Bundy free throws at 10:28 to make it 51-34. The Ichabods answered back with a quick 7-2 run but a 14-6 swing in favor of the Lions made it 67-47 with 1:41 left thanks to a Jalen Parker jumper from Martin Macenis.
Up next for the Lions will be Emporia State on Saturday with tip off from the Leggett & Platt Athletic Center set for 3:30pm.
Career Update
Christian Bundy – Eclipsed 800 career points to become the 38th in program history and joining teammate Winston Dessesow, Bundy now has 808 points to move past Braelon Walker (16-20) for 37th.
Winston Dessesow – Moved past Braelon Walker for 36th in scoring with 812.
Avery Taggart – Moved past Tony Webb (07-09) and Braelon Walker (16-20) for 38th in assists with 132.
Sam McMahon - Set a program record for a first year head coach in their first 15 games with a 11-4 record beating out Frank Davis (68-69), Chuck Williams (77-78) and Jeff Boschee (14-15) for the record with all three going 10-5 in their first 15 games leading the Green and Gold.
