Kansas City, Mo. - The Missouri Southern men's basketball program knocked off Northeastern State 70-60 to begin the MIAA Tournament Wednesday from historic Municipal Auditorium.
The Lions (17-12, 12-10 MIAA) were led by
Vinson Sigmon Jr. with 21 points going 5-of-8 from three and grabbing five rebounds,
Sam Thompson posted his first career double-double with 12 points and 13 rebounds.
Lawson Jenkins led the bench with 10 points as
Winston Dessesow and
Isaiah Holden each provided three assists.
Northeastern State (12-15, 9-13 MIAA) was led by Christian Cook with 14 points.
As a team Southern held the advantage over the RiverHawks in field goal percentage 45.5-43.6, three pointers made 9-7, three point percentage 34.6-28.0, free throws made 11-5, rebounds 34-32, offensive rebounds 6-4, steals 4-3, bench points 21-8, fast break points 8-5, points off turnovers 12-6 and second chance points 8-3. The Lions held the lead for 36:38 of the game with two ties and three lead changes.
In the first half Southern used an 11-0 run early to jump out to a 17-8 lead over Northeastern State with 11:06 remaining as Jenkins scored seven of those points in the run. To close out the half the Lions went on an 7-2 run capped off by a Sigmon Jr. floater with two seconds left making it 37-30.Â
For the half the Lions shot 45.2 percent from the field, 42.9 percent from three going 6-for-14, for the RiverHawks they shot 46.4 percent from the field and 36.4 percent from three going 4-for-11. Individually Sigmon Jr. led the Lions with 15 points in the half going 3-for-3 from three, Jenkins had 10 points going 2-for-3 three three and
Isaiah Holden had five points in the half.
The second half saw the Lions get a 14 point lead with 10:53 left after a Thompson dunk from a Jenkins feed making it 54-40. Northeastern State responded with a 9-2 run to make it a seven point game, 56-49 with 6:59 left. The RiverHawks got it down to four, 60-56 with 3:29 left and for the final three minutes of the game the Lions outscored Northeastern State 10-4 to claim the 70-60 victory.
Up next for the Lions will be second seeded and 12th ranked Central Oklahoma in the MIAA Quarterfinals tomorrow as tip off from historic Municipal Auditorium set for 2:15pm.
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