Claremore, Okla. – The Missouri Southern men's basketball program's late comeback attempt falls short tonight inside the Claremore Expo Center to Rogers State 71-68.
The Lions (12-6, 8-4 MIAA) were led by
Christian Bundy with his third double-double of the season with a season-high 19 points and 10 rebounds.
Winston Dessesow finished with 14 points, five rebounds and four assists and
Ndongo Ndaw had 10 points and seven rebounds.
Sam Thompson had a bench high six point and three rebounds in 16 minutes.
Rogers State (11-8, 7-6 MIAA) was led by Chris Whitaker with 17 points and four rebounds, Kofi Hamilton led the bench with 12 points and Joey Saracco was the other Hillcat to reach in double figures with 11 points and six rebounds.
For the first five minutes of the game it was a balanced scoring effort for both teams in an unexpected fast paced beginning as the Lions had an 11-9 lead with 15:09 remaining in the first half. In the next five minutes a 13-4 run by Southern made it a 24-13 lead with 10:04 left, thanks to a Thompson layup with
Avery Taggart picking up the assist.
During the last ten minutes of the first half both teams attempted to go on scoring runs but neither was able to gain an advantage over the other with the halftime score line seeing the Lions ahead 40-31. For the first half Southern shot 56.7 percent from the field and made five three's and outscored the Hillcats 24-14 for points in the paint.
To begin the second half Ndaw would score the first bucket off a hook shot before a Bundy three and another Ndaw hook shoot made it a 14 point game (47-33) with 17:30 remaining in the game for the largest lead in the game. Rogers State would start to slowly chip away at the lead but a Ndaw layup with 10:21 left made it 53-47 in favor of the Lions.
Rogers State made their move with an 15-3 run over about five and a half minutes and with a pair of free throws with 3:17 left made it 62-56 in favor of the hosts. Southern would get it to within a one possession game at 66-64 following a Dessesow three with 1:28 that capped off a quick 8-4 run by Southern. But both,
Vinson Sigmon Jr. and Bundy would make layups with in the final 1:08 of the game to make it a one point game but ultimately couldn't tie or overtake the Hillcats.
Up next for the Lions will be a three game home stand beginning on Monday with Lincoln at 7:30pm, Newman will be in town on Thursday at 7:30pm and Central Oklahoma will conclude the games for the week on Saturday at 3:30pm.
