Tahlequah, Okla. – The Missouri Southern men's basketball team came away with a 75-67 win on the road inside the NSU Event Center against Northeastern State tonight.
The Lions (12-5, 8-3 MIAA) were led by
Winston Dessesow with 16 points and four rebounds,
Vinson Sigmon Jr. had 15 points, six rebounds and three assists. Off the bench
Sam Thompson had 12 points while
Martin Macenis a season-high 10 points to go with nine rebounds and three assists in 19 minutes.
Northeastern State (9-7, 6-6 MIAA) was led by Christian Cook with 23 points while adding five rebounds, Rashad Perkins battled foul trouble but had 21 points. Tylor Arnold and Obi Agu each had nine rebounds to lead the team while Arnold, Perkins and Ryan Gendron have two assists each to lead the team.
As a team the Lions held the advantage over the RiverHawks in field goal percentage 47.3-35.7, three pointers made 8-7, rebounds 40-36, assists 14-9, blocks 2-1, defensive rebounds 31-27, bench points 25-10, points off turnovers 14-9 and points in the paint 28-18.
After the first ten minutes of the first half the Lions held onto a 13-11 lead with five different Lions scoring with Dessesow, Thompson and Sigmon Jr. each having three points and forced three RiverHawk turnovers. In the final ten minutes of the first half, Southern outscored Northeastern State 20-12 to make it 33-23 while shooting 9-of-14 from the field and held the RiverHawks to 4-of-15 shooting from the field.
At the half Thompson led the team with 10 points while Dessesow added eight and as a team the Lions were 13-of-26 from the field and held the RiverHawks to shooting 7-of-26 from the field in the half.
To begin the second half Southern outscored Northeastern State 23-15 in the first ten minutes, making it 56-38 while limiting the hosts to shooting 5-of-13 from the field and 1-of-5 from three. The Lions would slam the door shut thanks in part to a Thompson slam sunk with 1:28 left and coasted to a 75-67 win on the road.
Up next for the Lions will be Rogers State on Saturday inside the Claremore Expo Center with tip off set for 3:30pm.
