Nov. 16—The Missouri Southern men’s basketball team led its opposition in each of its first three games. It lost two of those games.
That same misfortune haunted the Lions on Saturday at Quincy University in Quincy, Illinois. They led 41-32 at the break and watched that evaporate and turn into a 71-68 loss.
A third blown lead in the early parts of the season makes MSSU 1-3 overall and still without a win over a NCAA Division II team. Its only win was Thursday over Ozark Christian College.
Southern led by 7 at 33-26 after a 13-0 run spun the game around. Its largest lead in the first half was 36-28 with 2:16 left.
Jaden Taylor led the team and all scorers with 23. He started the second half with a basket to make the Lions’ lead 11 points.
That lead stayed around 8-10 points for a good portion of the second half but in the final eight minutes, Quincy closed the game. By the 4:05-mark, the scoreboard showed 60-58 in favor of the visitors.
Just four minutes before that, MSSU led 56-48.
Camren Kincaid tied the game at 62 with 2:22 to play on a layup and 20 seconds later he made it 64-62 for the home team with two free throws.
Both teams traded baskets up to a 68-68 tie. Taylor turned the ball over with seven seconds left and El Sieger turned that into a runout for a fastbreak layup and got fouled. Sieger completed the old-fashioned 3-point play to seal the win for the Hawks with one second left.
MSSU’s final heave was no good. It looks to have more success Monday night at home when Southwest Baptist (1-0) comes to the Leggett & Platt Athletic Center for a 6 p.m. tipoff. The Bearcats’ only game is an 84-62 win over Ozark Christian College.
