Hays, Kan. – The Missouri Southern men's basketball program came away with a dominate 68-56 road win over (RV) Fort Hays State behind a balanced scoring effort inside Gross Memorial Coliseum.
The Lions (9-4, 5-2 MIAA) were led by
Vinson Sigmon Jr. with a game-high 16 points and six rebounds while providing three assists.
Avery Taggart (14),
Winston Dessesow (12) and
Christian Bundy (12) rounded out the others to reach double figure scoring. Dessesow had a team-high four assists while Taggart made a game-high three three's.
Sam Thompson had eight points off the bench while adding four rebounds and a block.
Fort Hays State (10-4, 5-3 MIAA) was led by Elijah Nnanabu and Jaheim Holden with 11 points. Nnanabu was the only Tiger to provide more than one assist finishing with four. Iyen Enaruna along with Holden scored in double figures off the bench, providing 10 points and a block. Kaleb Hammeke who was fourth in the MIAA for points per game at 17.5 coming into today finished with 5 points making a three and two free throws in 37 minutes for his fewest scoring output since playing Central Missouri on Jan. 6th last season. WIth 56 points scored today by the Tigers it tied the series low scoring output against the Lions that was originally set on Feb. 22, 1985.
As a team the Lions held the advantage in field goal percentage 52.3-40.4, three pointers made 9-6, three point percentage 45.0-27.3, free throws made 13-8, free throw percentage 92.9-88.9, rebounds 32-22, defensive rebounds 26-16, assists 12-9, steals 12-10 and second chance points 10-6 while having the lead for 22:45.
The Tigers got out to a 15-7 lead following a Traejon Davis and-one at 12:59 with the Lions response over the next minute being a 7-2 run capped off by a Thompson layup with Taggart picking up his second assist of the game making it 17-14. Both teams traded 9-0 runs before the Lions roared to a 9-2 run to close the first half thanks to a Sigmon Jr. three with Dessesow picking up his second assist with under a second left, making it 32-28.
In the second half, Fort Hays State began with a 11-7 run to tie it up 39-39 with 15:11 remaining and from there on out it was the closest the Tigers got to reclaiming a lead. A 15-5 run by Southern capped off by three straight made baskets by Bundy made it a ten point game 54-44 with 8:01 left.
Southern would get the lead up to 14 (62-48) following a Taggart three with 4:21 left and coast the rest of the way to a 68-56 win.
Up next for the Lions is Nebraska – Kearney on Saturday inside the Health & Sports Center with tip off set for 4:00pm.
