MSSU men defeat Central Missouri in MIAA semi-final

(From MSSU Lions Athletic News)

The Missouri Southern men's basketball team led for nearly 35 minutes of the game and the Lions took out 18th-ranked Central Missouri 81-74 today inside Municipal Auditorium, securing a berth into their second-straight MIAA Tournament Championship game.

The Lions (20-10) will advance to its second-straight Tournament Championship where Southern will face-off with Pittsburg State at 1 pm on Sunday. The Gorillas defeated top seed Northwest Missouri earlier in the day.

Taevaunn Prince led all scorers with 22 points and six rebounds, going 9-15 from the field and 4-5 from the free throw line. Cameron Cornelius scored 14 points and pulled down five boards, while Greg Renfroe andAustin Wright scored 12 points each. Renfroe finished iwth three blocks and six rebounds. The three blocks give him 59 on the season, just six from tying the single-season MSSU record. Lane Barlow added ten points.

The Mules had four score in double-figures led by 18 points from Brennen Hughes and 16 points from Preston Brunz.

A layup from Prince at the 13-minute mark put the Lions up 14-10 early on, but Central tied the game at 17 with 8:14 to go, but the Lions went on 15-5 run to go up by ten (32-22) after a layup from Cornelius with 4:53 to go in the first half. The Southern lead was ten (34-24) with 3:05 to go, but Central closed the half on an 8-2 run to make the halftime score 36-32.

A layup from Prince with 11:39 to go in the second half pushed the Lions' lead to 11 (57-46)and a three-point play from Prince made the lead 12 (60-48) with 10:37 to go in the game.

A jumper from Renfroe with 5:25 to go made the lead 14 (68-54) and despite a late Central run, the Lions held on for the victory.

Southern shot 53 percent from the field. The Lions scored 20 points off of 13 Central Turnovers and Southern had a 34-32 advantage in the paint.

The Lions will take on Pittsburg State tomorrow at 1 pm for the MIAA's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The game will be carried live locally on television in the Joplin area on KGCS-TV.