Dec. 10—The Missouri Southern men’s basketball team evened both its overall and MIAA records (5-5, 1-1) with an 82-74 overtime win over the University of Central Oklahoma Bronchos (4-4, 0-2) on Sunday in Edmond, Okla.
Southern used a balanced scoring attack with four players in double figures and another two scoring 9 each.
Justin Duff paced the Lions with 16 points. Martin Macenis added 14 and Isaiah Atwater and Jamari Lawrence each logged 10. Tyriqe Brooks and Tyrone Wright both finished with 9. Wright led the Lions in rebounds with nine.
The Lions struggled from the free-throw line, hitting 50% (5-10) in the first half and were 3 of 10 in the second half. They finished the game 9-21 for 42.9%.
The Bronchos also suffered a paltry night behind the stripe, finishing 16 of 30. Jordan Thompson led UCO with 19 points, and JV Seat and Parker Hannah each scored 16. Jacobi Seabock added 11 for UCO.
UCO jumped out to an early 11-0 lead before Atwater stopped the bleeding with a 3-pointer at 15:31.
The Lions took their first lead of the game at 11:30 off a Lawrence trey that made it 19-17. The Bronchos battled back to take the lead much of the closing portion of the period. MSSU was able to tie the game at 33-33 at 2:18 off a Duff 3-pointer, but an Israel Hart layup gave UCO a 38-36 lead going into the half.
UCO built a 6-point lead at 44-38 off a Hannah score in transition at 16:03 of the second half and held the lead until 6:32, when Macenis tied the game at 56-56 with a free throw.
Southern took its first lead of the half on a Wright dunk at 5:57. The Lions held the lead until Seat hit a 3-pointer at 1:42 to put UCO up 68-66. A Macenis layup at 1:12 was enough to tie the game at 68-68 and send the game into overtime.
Duff hit a trey at 3:44 of the overtime period to put the Lions up for good at 71-68. MSSU outscored the Bronchos 11-6 down the stretch to hold on for the win.
Up next for the Lions is a home game against Northeastern State University on Tuesday, Dec. 17.
