Kansas City, Mo. - The 22nd-ranked Missouri Southern men's basketball team out scored No. 1 Northwest Missouri by ten points in the second half, but the Lions couldn't complete the comeback and fell 78-76 in a thriller to the Bearcats in the Championship of the 2020 MIAA Basketball Tournament.
Southern (23-8) was led offensively by Cam Martin with 31 points and 11 rebounds, going 12-of-17 from the field. Winston Dessesow had a career-high 23 points, going 9-for-14 from the field, while Elyjah Clark scored 14 points. Clark now has 365 career three pointers, just five from tying the MIAA career record.
Northwest (31-1) wins its fifth-straight Tournament title and the Bearcats were led by 31 points from Trevor Hudgins.
Southern scored the first four points of the game and the Lions led 10-9 after a layup from Martin with 13:30 left in the first half. Northwest answered, however, with a 10-0 run and led 19-10, before a three from Clark stopped the run and made the score 19-13 with ten minutes to go.
A jumper from Dessesow with eight minutes left cut the lead to four (24-20), but a bucket from the Bearcats pushed Northwest out in front by 11 (33-22) with 5:46 left in the half. The Lions got within nine after a basket from Christian Bundy with four minutes left, but Southern trailed 45-33 going into the break.
A bucket from Martin with 14:23 left in the second half got the Lions within seven (48-41), and a pair of freebies from Martin made the score 53-45 with 11:52 on the clock. A bucket from Martin and then a three from Clark cut the lead to seven (63-56) with 7:20 on the clock and a three from Dessesow cut the Northwest lead to four (65-61) with six minutes to go.
A pair of free throws from Clark with 4:21 left cut the Northwest lead to three (67-64), while two freebies from Martin and then a third free throw another trip down tied the game at 67 with three minutes to go. Martin got the Lions within a point two more times at 70-69 and again at 72-71, the latter coming with 1:38 to go, but a layup from the Bearcats put Northwest up 74-71.
A layup from Hudgins gave Northwest a 76-71 lead with 22 seconds left, and despite late points from Dessesow, including a three at the buzzer, the Lions couldn't compete the comeback.
Martin and Clark were named to the All-Tournament team. The Lions shot 57 percent from the field and out rebounded Northwest 32-23 and the Lions had a 44-38 advantage in the paint.
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