The Missouri Southern men's basketball team went cold from the field and despite a second-half comeback, the Lions fell today in the MIAA Tournament Quarterfinals to the Pittsburg State Gorillas, 89-80.
Southern (23-7) was led in scoring by Cam Martin with 25 points and 11 rebounds for his 17th double-double of the season. Kinzer Lambert had 17 points and a career-high 15 rebounds, while Enis Memic had 11 and Parker Jennings scored 10. Braelon Walker had eight points, while Elyjah Clark scored seven.
Pitt State (17-12) had three score 20 points or more, led by 23 points from Grant Lozoya.
The Gorillas led 16-11 with 11 minutes left to play in the first half, but the Lions stormed back and took a 20-16 lead after a three from Clark with 8:37 to go. The Lions cut the Pitt lead to two (28-26) after a bucket from Martin with 4:21 left in the half, but the Gorillas closed the half on a 12-2 run and led 40-28 at the break.
The Lions shot just 28 percent in the first half from the field and 9 percent from the 3-point line.
Pitt led by 15 twice in the second half, the last time coming with 15 minutes to play. Southern, however, started a comeback over the next five minutes that cut the deficit to just one (54-53) after a pair of freebies from Lambert capped a 19-5 run for the Lions.
Pitt answered right back and pushed the lead back to eight (61-53) with a quick 7-0 run. Southern got back within two (70-68) after a tip in from Lambert with four minutes to play, but that would be as close as the Lions would get.
Southern shot 32 percent from the field and 22 percent from long-range in the game. The Lions out rebounded Pitt 48-47, including 15-9 in offensive boards, which led to a 20-8 advantage in second-chance points. The Southern bench out scored Pitt 21-4.
The Lions will now wait to see who their next opponent will be as the NCAA will announce the field of 64 for the 2019 NCAA Division II Tournament this Sunday. The selection show can be seen live via www.ncaa.com at 9:30 pm.
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