Joplin, Mo. - The Missouri Southern men's basketball team kicked off their final home stretch of the regular season Wednesday evening, playing host to the Washburn Ichabods who received votes in the latest coaches poll. In a contest that went down to the wire, the visitors made a three in the final seconds to secure a 77-72 victory. The loss drops MSSU to 13-14 (11-10 MIAA) with one game left in the regular season.
Darius Dawson dropped the first bucket of the game, making a jumper in traffic. Washburn then got on the board, scoring eight straight. Back-to-back three pointers by
Vinson Sigmon Jr. and Dawson tied things at eight early on. Soon after, the teams would swap leads once again, then the Lions went on an 8-0 run of their own to make it 19-12 with 10:48 on the clock.
Not letting it affect them too much, the Ichabods responded to even the score at 21-21. Over the remainder of the period, the teams would exchange leads and tie things up on several occasions. Washburn hit a three with 40 seconds left to take a three point lead. Although MSSU had a last second chance, the score would read 39-36 in favor of WU at the break.
The first points of the second half came via
Vinson Sigmon Jr. free throws, followed by a
Martin Macenis three, giving Southern a two point lead. Again the Ichabods took over, then
Avery Taggart drained a three for a 46-45 lead with 16:46 left in the game. A few minutes later, the same situation arose and the same outcome played out, another Taggart three to regain the lead.
Just under the halfway point of the second half, Taggart hit a jumper and another three to boost the Lion lead to five. They held onto that lead until the 4:19 mark when an Ichabod layup gave the visitors a one point advantage.
Darius Dawson hit a pair of big free throws with 1:26 on the clock, making it a 71-70 WU score. On the other side of the court, Washburn made a three to create a four point deficit with just under a minute to play. After a couple chaotic plays,
Martin Macenis came up with a big steal on a Washburn in-bound, later scoring a layup on the possession to cut the deficit to just two points. In the final seconds, the Ichabods hit a three to make it a 77-72 score, which would end up being the final.
Martin Macenis led the way with a career high 23 points on 10-18 shooting from the field. He also had 7 rebounds, 2 blocks, and 2 steals.
Avery Taggart nailed 5 three point field goals, totaling 19 points with 4 rebounds and 4 assists.
Darius Dawson was also in double digits with 12 points, missing just one field goal and making all of his free throws. He also had 6 rebounds and 3 assists.
Saturday will mark the end of regular season play, as the Lions host the Northwest Missouri State Bearcats for senior day. Tip-off for that contest is scheduled for 3:30pm at the Leggett & Platt Athletic Center.
The Missouri Southern men's basketball season is presented by Arvest Bank, a proud supporter of Lion Athletics.
