The 10th-ranked Missouri Southern men's basketball team will open up the regular season this weekend as the Lions travel to Kansas City to take on Winona State and Minnesota State at historic Municipal Auditorium.
The games will be part of the MIAA/NSIC challenge as the Lions will take on the Warriors of Winona State at 2:15 pm on Friday and then will take on the Mavericks of Minnesota State at noon on Saturday.
The Lions start the season ranked anywhere from No. 4 (Street and Smith's) to No. 19 (Division II Bulletin). Southern is also ranked No. 9 by the Division II Sports Information Directors in that organization's pre-season poll.
The Lions return all five starters, four of which earned some type of All-MIAA honors last year. Cam Martin was a first-team All-MIAA and All-Region selection, while also earning All-American honors. Elyjah Clark was a third-team All-MIAA selection, while Braelon Walker and Kinzer Lambert earned honorable mention All-MIAA. Reggie Tharp will return to run the point for the Lions as he averaged 8.6 points per game and 5.0 assists per contest a season ago.
In total, the Lions return nine letter winners from a season ago. Ted Brown (2.5 points, 1.9 rebounds), Parker Jennings (6.4 points, 1.3 rebounds) and Dexter Frisbie (3.1 points 2.2 rebounds) all saw action, while Christian Bundy averaged 4.8 points and 3.0 rebounds as a freshman in 2017-18 but sat out last season with an ankle injury.
The Lions welcome in five new players to the fold for 19-20 including Division I transfer Stan Scott who comes to Joplin after two seasons at Oakland University. Also new to the program are freshmen Martin Macenis (13.1 points/6.2 rebounds) from Stagg, Ill., Winston Dessesow (16.7 points/6.0 rebounds) from Faragut (Fla.) High School and Tyriqe Jackson a 6-6 swing man that was a three-time All-Conference player and a 1,000 point scorer at Lonoke (Ark.) high school. The final new piece to the puzzle for the Lions is Aleksa Markovic, who hails from Prodgorica, Montenegro, but prepped at Bloomfield (Ind.) High School.
Southern is 2-2 overall against Minnesota State, while this will be the first-ever meeting between the Lions and Winona State.
Winona State was tabbed to finish third in the NSIC South and sixth overall in the NSIC preseason poll. The Warriors were 14-17 last season and 9-13 in NSIC play, but made a deep run in the NSIC Tournament, just missing out on a trip to the Finals. Caleb Wagner is the lone senior and was an All-NSIC player as a sophomore. The Warriors have five newcomers on the team.
Minnesota State was picked first overall in the NSIC preseason poll. MSU made its 15th overall appearance in the NCAA Tournament last year as the team finished 18-12 on the season. Senior's Cameron Kirksey and Kevin Krieger return after leading the team in scoring and rebounding last season. Kirksey averaged 17.7 points and 5.9 boards, while Krieger averaged 14.1 points and 7.3 rebounds.
After this Tournament, the Lions will head home to play host to the University of Saint Mary in the home opener on November 17 at 3 pm.
MSSU Possible Starters (2018-19 Stats)
No. Name Pos. Ht. Yr. PPG RPG A/S Blocks Hometown
0 Reggie Tharp G 6-0 Sr. 8.6 2.6 159/44 0 Fort Wayne, Ind.
5 Braelon Walker G 6-0 Sr. 10.6 3 52/40 1 Little Rock, Ark.
11 Kinzer Lambert G 6-4 Sr. 15.6 6.7 51/20 18 Owasso, Okla.
15 Elyjah Clark G 6-3 Sr. 14.8 6.6 104/40 11 Edmond, Okla.
31 Cam Martin C 6-9 Jr. 22.5 9.7 46/16 34 Yukon, Okla.
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