Joplin, Mo. - The Missouri Southern men's basketball program picked up another top-ten win over Central Oklahoma this season with a 66-59 victory tonight inside the Leggett & Platt Athletic Center. This is the first time Southern has beaten the same team twice in a season while they were ranked since knocking off Northwest Missouri in 2017-18 in Joplin and Maryville with the Bearcats being ranked 1st and 6th during those contests.
The Lions (14-7, 10-5 MIAA) were led by
Vinson Sigmon Jr. with 14 points as 13 points of those points came in the second half,
Christian Bundy narrowly missed out on a double-double with 12 points and nine rebounds while
Avery Taggart had 10 points.
Winston Dessesow and
Ndongo Ndaw had eight points each with Dessesow dishing a team-high five assist and Ndaw coming away with 12 rebounds and three blocks to lead the game in both categories.
Sam Thompson led the bench with seven points and three rebounds in nine minutes.
#4 Central Oklahoma (19-2, 13-2 MIAA) was led by Camryn Givens with 22 points. Curtis Haywood II had 11 points, eight rebounds, five assists, two steals and a block as well.
As a team the Lions held the advantage over the fourth ranked Bronchos in field goal percentage 40.4-37.3, three point percentage 32.0-31.8, three pointers made 8-7, rebounds 44-30, offensive rebounds 14-6, defensive rebounds 30-24, assists 12-11, blocks 4-3, points off turnovers 5-4, points in the paint 24-22 and second chance points 12-9.
Following the first five minutes of the game it was an 8-8 tie thanks to a hook shot by Ndaw with 15:08 left to cap off six straight points by the Lions. Central Oklahoma would score the next five points to break the tie and would go into the half up 26-20 but the Lions had a 6-2 run in the final two minutes,capped off by a buzzer beating
Lawson Jenkins jumper that got the crowd going and gave the team momentum going into the half.
At the half the Lions held the Bronchos to shooting 35.7 percent from the field and 4-of-14 from three for 28.6, coming into the game Central Oklahoma was shooting 46.9 percent from the field and 34.7 percent from the field. The Lions controlled the boards in the half with a 24-19 advantage including a 9-4 advantage on the offensive boards.
In the second half Central Oklahoma opened up with a 6-3 run but the counter by the Lions was an 8-2 run to make it a three point game, 34-31 with 16:34 left thanks to a pair of Ndaw free throws. Southern would roar into the lead with 8:54 left thanks to a Dessesow three that was part of an 11-2 run by the team to go ahead 49-46 following a Thompson free throw with a little over eight minutes left.
Every time the Bronchos would threaten the lead late in the game the Lions response was to go to Sigmon Jr. with the junior from Detroit, Mich. scoring 11 of the 15 points by Southern in the final six minutes of the game. During that time Sigmon Jr. went 3-of-4 from the field with two deep three's and made a pair of free throws along with two defensive rebounds to help control the final quarter of the second half and pave the way for a 66-59 win over the No. 4 Bronchos.
For the second half the Lions outscored the Broncos 46-33 while shooting 51.7 percent from the field, 6-of-11 from three and 10-of-12 from free throws. On the glass it was a 20-11 advantage, 5-2 on the offensive side. Defensively the Lions held Central Oklahoma to shooting 39.1 percent in the half, 37.5 percent from three with both percentages below the season averages coming in.
Up next for the Lions is a road week at Lincoln and Central Missouri. Southern will matchup with the Blue Tigers in Jefferson City, Mo. at Jason Gym with tip-off set for 7:30pm and on Thursday the Mules will host the Lions in Warrebsburg, Mo. with tip-off from the Multipurpose Building set for 3:00pm on Saturday to end the week.
Career Update
Chrisitan Bundy - Moved into a tie with Marquis Addison (10-14) and Jason Adams (08-12) for games played with 120 and is set to surpase the record currently held by Elyjah Clark (16-20) with his 125th game set to be Senior day on Feb. 18th against Fort Hays State. Bundy also moved past Taevaunn Prince (14-16) for rebounds with his 529th tonight to claim 14th in program history.
Winston Dessesow - Moved past Keith Allen (89-93) for the sixth most three's made with 179 following tonight, in fifth is a former teammate of Desswsow in Kinzer Lambert (16-20) with 197.
