Kearney, Neb. - The 18th-ranked Missouri Southern men's basketball program utilized a 34-5 run in the first half, while Cam Martin went over the 1,000-point plateau and the Lions defeated Nebraska-Kearney 89-77 today inside the Health and Sports Center.
Southern (11-2, 4-0 MIAA) was led by Martin's night with 26 points on 12-of-19 from the field and 13 rebounds to go with seven assists. Martin becomes the 24th Lion to join the 1000-point club and sits at 1,001 points in just 45 games as a Lion.
Braelon Walker scored 19 points on 7-of-9 from the field and a perfect 5-of-5 from long-range. Elyjah Clark scored 11 points, while Kinzer Lambert added nine. Reggie Tharp had five points and eight assists.
Nebraska-Kearney (8-4, 2-2 MIAA) was led by 23 points from Jake Walker.
The Lions scored the first six points of the game and led 11-4 after a three pointer from Walker with 16:45 left in the first half. UNK cut the lead to one (13-12) with 15 minutes to play, but the Lions went on 15-0 run to open a 28-12 lead with 11:37 left. The run reached 21-5 and forced a second Lopers' timeout as Southern led 34-17 with a little more than ten minutes left on the clock.
The Southern run reached 34-5 after a three from Tharp with 6:53 to go in the half and back-to-back buckets, the second coming on a dunk from Ted Brown off an assist from Tharp pushed the lead to 53-24 with 3:43 left. The Lions would shoot 67 percent from the field, 79 percent from long range and a perfect 2-of-2 from the free throw line in the half, leading 61-34 going into the break.
A three pointer from Walker with 15:44 left in the 2nd half gave the Lions a 29-point lead (70-41), but an 11-0 run from the Lopers cut the lead to 18 (70-52) with 11:43 to play. A layup from Martin with 7:04 left in the game put the junior over the 1,000-point plateau and gave the Lions a 79-60 lead.
UNK made it close late, but could not close the gap.
Southern shot 60 percent from the field in the game, while making 67 percent from long-range. The Lions out rebounded UNK 34-25 and the Lions outscored the Lopers 40-26 in the paint.
Southern will be back in action Thursday night when the Lions play host Central Oklahoma. Tip-off is slated for 7:30 pm.
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