Maryville, Mo. - The Missouri Southern men's basketball program ended the regular season with a road trip to No. 2 Northwest Missouri, falling 75-64 inside Bearcat Arena on Saturday.
The Lions (16-12, 12-10 MIAA) were led by
Vinson Sigmon Jr. with 18 points and three steals,
Isaiah Holden scored a career-high 10 points going 2-for-3 from three and dished out a career-high six assists.
Avery Taggart had 10 points going 6-for-7 from free throws and
Christian Bundy had a game-high nine rebounds.
Northwest Missouri (27-2, 20-2 MIAA) was led by Diego Bernard with 19 points, four assists and three steals.
For the game the Lions held the advantage over the Bearcats in three point percentage 53.8-45.8, free throws made 17-14, rebounds 29-23, offensive rebounds 13-7, steals 8-7, bench points 22-8, fast break points 17-8 and second chance points 11-9.
In the first half the Lions would get to within two (6-4) following a pair of Taggart free throws with 16:58 left but a 10-4 run by the MIAA champions opened up a 16-8 deficit. Southern would get to within two possessions three more times but the Bearcats would hold onto a 35-20 lead going into the half.Â
The second saw a flip of the script as Southern went 7-for-8 from three in the half after going 0-for-5 in the first twenty minutes and from the field shot 60.9 percent. Southern would chip away into the Bearcats lead with a little over a minute 6-2 run from
Lawson Jenkins making it a 14 point game, 60-46 with 7:49 left. A Holden pull up with 2:51 made it 70-58 but a 5-0 run by Northwest helped usher in a 75-64 final score.
Up next for the Lions will be the MIAA Tournament where the RiverHawks of Northeastern State will be facing off against Southern on Wednesday, Mar. 1st from historic Municipal Auditorium with tip-off set for 2:15pm.
