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 had outscored PSU 18-4 in the first 5:40 of the second half.
“We were just preaching chipping away in the huddle,” Atwater said. “We can’t get it back in one possession but staying the course and start hanging our hat on defense.”
“We made adjustments at halftime; obviously, they worked. We were shooting the ball really well coming out of half and playing good defense. That was a big part of our run right there,” Macenis said.
As both teams traded punches for a bit, Macenis made good on a reverse layup while Atwater found another long-range shot to make it 48-47.
At the 12:20 mark of the second half, Tyrique Brooks nailed a 3-pointer to tie the game at 50.
PSU stretched the lead out to 5 after a 3-pointer by R.J. Forney followed by a layup from Frison.
Atwater made a tough lefty layup with his nondominant hand and Macenis followed that up with a score to get their team back within 1 at 55-54. The teams traded scores but an old-fashioned 3-point play by Macenis tied the game at 59.
Forney made another triple, but Macenis responded with an outside shot of his own to tie it at 62.
Frison scored on the other end, and then Macenis drew some contact on the inside and made two charities to make it 64-all.
Trailing by 2 with 4:46 to go, Jackson was back at the free throw line. He again missed 1 of 2 shots and the Lions were down 66-65.
PSU scored 8 straight after that and the last 6 came from Frison on a jump shot from about 18 feet, another midrange basket around the free-throw line and then a floater in the lane. That run made it 74-65 and essentially put the game out of reach with just 2:01 to play.
Atwater knocked in a couple of treys to make it 79-72 with 30 seconds left, and Jackson made another shot beyond the arc to make it 81-75 with 21 seconds left.
The next foul sent Tanner Mans to the free-throw line, and he iced the game by making both. The Lions turned the ball over on the next possession as the late charge fell short.
“It’s like a mental fog or something, I don’t know,” Macenis said of the early struggles. “We have road games coming up, so we definitely have to bring it and get on another streak.”
Atwater finished as MSSU’s scoring leader with 22 points and shooting 6 for 6 from beyond the arc. All of his 3-pointers came in the second half and all but 2 of his points. Macenis scored 18. Jackson joined them in double figures with 14 points.
PSU was led by Frison’s game-high 34 points. Tane Prictor added 14 points and 12 rebounds for a double-double. Avery Taggart scored 12.
