Joplin, Mo. – The Missouri Southern men's basketball program battled back but couldn't hold onto a lead late, falling to Lincoln tonight inside the Leggett & Platt Athletic Complex.
The Lions (12-7, 8-5 MIAA) were led by
Christian Bundy with 17 points and five rebounds while
Vinson Sigmon Jr. had 16 points and a season-high seven assists.
Winston Dessesow had 13 points, three assists and two steals while
Avery Taggart had 11 points and five assists and to round out the starting five
Ndongo Ndaw had 10 points and four rebounds.
Parker Long made his return from injury and added nine points, three rebounds and an assist in 12 minutes off the bench.
Lincoln (12-5, 8-5 MIAA) was led by Kevin Kone with 21 points and 18 rebounds as Sai Witt offered up 21 points and five rebounds as well. DJ Richardson had 17 points and three assists while Artese Stapleton scored 15 points. Jamar Madge Jr. was the lone Blue Tiger to score off the bench with one made three in the game.
As a team the Lions held the advantage over the Blue Tigers in field goal percentage 58.5-50.0, assists 17-11, bench points 15-3, fast break points 14-6, points off turnovers 15-13 and points in the paint 38-36.
In the first five minutes Lincoln had a 13-6 lead as the Blue Tigers missed one shot in their first six attempts while Bundy scored twice and Ndaw made a pair of free throws. In the next five minutes both teams scored six points with a Ndaw hook shott at 11:42 making it 19-12 in favor of Lincoln.
Lincoln would get the lead up to ten but a quick 4-0 run by the Lions made it 28-22 thanks to a pair of Long free throws and were his first points of the game. Southern would score five points in the last five seconds with Sigmon Jr. making a pair of free throws and Taggart nailing a three with Sigmon Jr. picking up his second assist of the half for a 39-29 deficit heading into the half.
Coming out of the half the Lions got off to a 5-0 run in under a minute and a 9-4 run overall saw the lead dwindled down to 43-38 thanks to a Bundy layup with Dessoesow picking up his second assist of the game with 17:17 remaining. For the first time in the game Southern would get a lead (46-45) with 14:46 thanks to a
Sam Thompson dunk with Long picking up the assist and energizing the crowd to force a Blue Tigers timeout.
Following the lead change by the Lions, Lincoln would force four ties and two lead changes in the next three minutes to set the stage for a battle of tug-of-war in the final ten minutes of the game. From 9:44 – 5:06 the game saw seven lead changes and two ties before a step back three by Dessow made it 69-66 in favor of the Lions.
Southern would get a three point lead with 3:24 remaining after a Bundy free throw for a 72-69 score but a Lincoln 5-0 run put them up 74-72 with 1:46 remaining. Thomspon responded with a thunderous dunk as Taggart picked up his fifth assist of the game and following a layup and a pair of free throws by Lincoln a Taggart off balance three with 18 seconds left made it 78-77 but that was as close as the Lions would get falling 84-82.
Up next for the Lions will be Newman on Thursday at 7:30pm inside the Leggett & Platt Athletic Center.
Career Update
Christian Bundy – With 858 points moved past Keith Allen (89-93), Reggie Grantham (85-87) and Cameron Cornelius (12-15) for 33rd in scoring.
Winston Dessesow – With 869 points moved past Carlos Newberry (96-00) and into a tie for 30th for scoring with
Stan Scott (19-22).
Avery Taggart – Moved past
Stan Scott (19-22) for 34th in assists with 146.
