Joplin, Mo. - The Missouri Southern men's basketball program came away with a 70-66 win tonight over Newman inside the Leggett & Platt Atheltic Center thanks to a season-high 15 threes.
The Lions (13-7, 9-5 MIAA) were led by
Winston Dessesow with a season-high 20 points going 6-of-11 from three including making his first five of the game.
Christian Bundy had 13 points and nine rebounds while
Avery Taggart chipped in with 13 points and six assists.
Ndongo Ndaw grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds and swatted away two shots while
Lawson Jenkins making his return from injury had a bench-high 11 points in 12 minutes.
Newman (6-13, 2-11 MIAA) was led by Latik Murphy with 26 points while Stevie Strong had 13 and Stevie Smith added 11 points.
As a team the Lions held the advantage over the Jets in field goal percentage 42.1-41.1, three pointers made 15-3, three point percentage 48.4-30.0, rebounds 43-28, assists 18-9, blocks 3-2, offensive rebounds 12-4, defensive rebounds 31-24, bench points 14-6, second chance points 11-4 and held a lead for 38:35 of the game with only one tie. This season the Lions have made 29 threes against the Jets with a season-high 15 tonight and 14 in Wichita earlier this season.
In the first half the Lions could not miss from three and neither could Dessesow in the early going as he began the game by making his first five attempts from deep and following a Jenkins three with 8:09 left in the half the team was 10-of-11 from deep and up 34-24. By the end of the half Southern had a 48-32 lead while going 12-of-17 from three and shot 56.7 percent from the field as a team with Dessesow having 15 points and Jenkins scoring 11.
The second half saw the Jets use an 18-4 run to trim the lead to two with 10:59 left but an 8-0 run by the Lions made it 60-50 thanks to a Bundy layup with 7:55 remaining. Newman would use another surge of scoring to make it close again this time an 12-6 run to make it 66-62 in favor of the Lions with 1:21 left and later on get to within two points but the Lions would close out the game with a pair of Taggart free throws with 14 seconds left for a 70-66 win.
Up next for the Lions will be #4 Central Oklahoma on Saturday with tip off from the Leggett & Platt Athletic Center set for 3:30pm to end the week.
Career Update
Winston Dessesow - Passed former teammate Braelon Walker (16-20) and tied Keith Allen (89-93) for sixth in three pointers made with 178.Â
