Joplin, Mo. - The Missouri Southern men's basketball team played in their home opener Monday evening, hosting the Central Christian College Tigers from McPherson, Kansas. Fifteen Lions appeared in the contest, as MSSU came out with the dominating win, 92-56. With the win, Southern improves to 2-1 to start the season.

Off to a quick start, the Lions took an early 6-0 lead on a pair of Vinson Sigmon Jr. free throws, a dunk by Darius Dawson, and a layup from Sam Thompson. Later in the first, the Lions had a stretch of four made three pointers, the first coming from Sigmon Jr., followed by Lawson Jenkins, then Winston Dessesow, and again from Jenkins. Dessesow's three put him over 1,000 career points scored, and that stretch pushed MSSU's lead to 11. 

Central Christian cut that lead back to five with 7:18 left in the half, but Missouri Southern went on a 15-0 for the remainder of that time. Momentum was gained by the Lions as Cam Williams stole the ball and threw it down for a dunk on the other end. Dawson, Sigmon Jr., and Dessesow got in on that scoring run, as Dessesow nailed a three as time expired to give MSSU a 43-23 lead heading into halftime. 

The visitors finally broke Southern's run on their first possession of the second period, but Vinson Sigmon Jr. answered back with a three. Following a few more baskets by the Lions, Sigmon Jr. hit another three to push the lead to 30. 

As the clock ticked under the nine minute mark, Prince Agbaeze blocked a Tiger jumper, and Martin Macenis took the rebound to the other end for a layup to extend the lead to 40. Just as CCC chipped away at the deficit, Justin Duff drained a three and Agbaeze threw down a dunk to keep it at 40. After a couple of Dylan Owens free throws and another three by Duff, Harrison Lewis made a layup at the 4:03 mark to give the Lions their biggest lead of the night at 43. The final few minutes consisted of quick back and forth action, ending in a 92-56 Southern victory. 

The team shot 54.1% from the field and 48.0% from beyond the arc. Leading the team in scoring was Vinson Sigmon Jr., finishing with 16 points. He also had 6 rebounds and a pair of steals. Winston Dessesow hit a career milestone, scoring his 1,000th point on his first basket of the game. In total, he had 15 points on 6-9 shooting from the field. Also in double digits was Justin Duff (11 points), Lawson Jenkins (11 points), and Sam Thompson (10 points). Martin Macenis led the Lions with 9 rebounds and 4 assists, and also went 4-5 from the field in just 14 minutes. Avery Taggart also had 4 assists. 

Off for a little over the week, the team will be back in action on Tuesday, November 21. They'll travel east on highway 44 to play in the Double Tree Thanksgiving Classic hosted by Drury in Springfield. Tuesday's game will be against Illinois Springfield at 3:15 PM, followed by a 7:45 PM tipoff against Drury on Wednesday. 

The Missouri Southern men's basketball season is presented by Arvest Bank, a proud supporter of Lion Athletics.
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