Lions’ comeback attempt falls short as Gorillas avoid sweep

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Jan. 27—It was a half of basketball that couldn’t have gone much worse for Missouri Southern on Saturday during an MIAA men’s basketball contest against Pittsburg State in Joplin.

Jordan Frison tallied 20 points in the first 20 minutes of action and helped the Gorillas to a 40-24 lead at halftime. MSSU came storming back and had the score even on multiple occasions, but Frison and PSU held on for an 83-75 win.

Without the sluggish first half, this game could have had a different result.

“That’s really it right there. We just talked about getting off to better starts,” MSSU’s Isaiah Atwater said. “Whether that be playing more confident or playing harder on the defensive end in the first half and trying to throw the first punch. But, just in general, trying to come out more energetic so we don’t have to dig ourselves a hole like that.”

The first half saw the visitors shoot 58.6%. The Lions were able to slow the opposition down for the early parts of the second half as they made their comeback.

But down the stretch, PSU was able to get on a roll again and make free throws. It shot 60.7% in the second half and finished the game with a 59.6 shooting percentage.

The numbers were nearly identical from half to half as the Gorillas were 17 for 29 in the first half and 17 for 28 in the second half and 3 for 9 from beyond the arc in both halves.

As the Lions made a late push to get back in the game, a big part of that came from Atwater and Martin Macenis.

In fact, they started the rally. Macenis scored from the inside and then Atwater hit back-to-back 3-pointers — one of which was an assist from Macenis as he passed it out from the post.

Macenis and Atwater both tallied five assists in the game.

The next two baskets by the Lions were triples from Tyriqe Jackson and Atwater to make it 44-38.

Jackson kept getting lanes to the basket after that and drew two fouls and made a layup on three straight drives. He was 2 for 4 on the free shots and made it 44-42 with his layup.

At that point, MSSU…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/lions-comeback-attempt-falls-short-233200977.html

Author : The Joplin Globe, Mo.

Publish date : 2025-01-27 23:32:00

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