MSSU men to close out regular season at Lincoln

(From MSSU Lions Athletic News)

The Missouri Southern men's basketball team will close out the regular season on Saturday as the Lions travel to Jefferson City to take on Lincoln University. Tip off from Jason Gym is slated for 3:30 pm. 

Game Information

Teams:       Missouri Southern (20-5/14-4 MIAA) @ Lincoln (3-23, 1-17 MIAA)
Date: Saturday, March 1, 2014
Tip-Off: 3:30 pm
Location: Jefferson City, Mo.
Site: Jason Gym (3,000)
Series Record: Southern leads 21-9
Coaches: Robert Corn (408-304 overall/at MSSU). John Redmond (18-115 overall and at LU)

Media Coverage

MSSU Radio: 97.9 FM Big Dog - Mike McClure - Play by Play
Internet Audio: www.mssulions.com
Webcast: www.mssulions.com
Live Stats: livestats.prestosports.com/mssu
Lions on Facebook:  Facebook.com/missourisouthernlions
Lions on Twitter: @mososports; @mssumensbball

The Series: The Lions lead the series between the two teams by a margin of 21-9. Southern is 12-4 at home against the Blue Tigers, while the Lions are 9-4 in Jefferson City. The Lions and Lincoln have split nuetral site games, both at Pittsburg. The Lions and Blue Tigers have played in four overtime games in the series with the two teams splitting the games. Lincoln is in their third year as a full MIAA member since leaving the league in 1998-99.

MIAA Team Ranks: The Lions lead the MIAA in scoring, scoring margin, rebounding margin, rebounding offense, field goal percentage, offensive rebounds, defensive rebounds and offensive rebound percentage. Southern ranks second in three point percentage, while ranking third in steals, rebounding defense and scoring defense. The team ranks fourth in free-throw shooting, field goal defense and assists, while ranking fifth in turnover margin. 

MIAA Individual Ranks: Marquis Addison ranks 8th in the MIAA in scoring, while ranking 12th in field goal percentage, sixth in free-throw shooting and fourth in steals. Jordan Talbertis fourth in rebounding and blocks and 29th in scoring, while ranking fourth in offensive rebounds. Slim Magee leads the league in field goal percentage, while ranking 11th in rebounding and third in blocks. Lane Barlow ranks ninth in assists, 12th in steals and 13th in assist/turnover ratio, while Austin Wright ranks third in three point shooting and ninth in three's per game. 

National Ranks: The Lions, as a team, rank sixth in field goal percentage, ninth in scoring margin, and 12th in both scoring offense and free-throws made. They rank 16th in blocks per game, 21st in free-throw attempts and 23rd in three point percentage. Southern ranks 24th in total blocks and rebound margin, while ranking 33rd in win-loss percentage and 37th in assists per game. 

Passing 1,000: Marquis Addison became the newest member of the 1,000 point club at MSSU with 20 points against Central Missouri last season. He currently has 1,534 points, putting him in front of Keane Thomann for sixth all-time and he is 130 behind Skyler Bowlin for fifth all-time. He is the fourth Lion in the past three seasons to pass 1,000, joining Jason Adams, Skyler Bowlin and Thomann.       

Moving Up: With his first steal at SBU, Marquis Addison moved into rare company as one of only four players to ever play at MSSU with 200 or more steals. He currently sits in fourth place all-time in career steals with 217, 41 behind Hiram Ocasio for third place. 

Nearing 1,000: Jordan Talbert comes into the Lincoln game with 993 career points, needing seven to hit the 1,000 point mark.

Career Numbers: Both Jordan Talbert and Marquis Addison are climbing the career lists in MSSU Basketball history. Addison sits at No. 6 in the career scoring list, No. 2 in career free-throw percentage and No. 4 in steals. Talbert ranks second in career blocks, and third in career rebounds. His 61 blocks last season are No. 1 on the all-time list, while Slim Magee's .649 field goal percentage is on target to break that mark this season.  

Corn Wins No. 400: Coach Robert Corn won his 400th career game on Jan. 15, 2014 in a 70-50 win at home over Lindenwood He now has 408 wins and is second among active coaches (Bob Chipman). 

Three Point Streak: The Lions failed to make a three-pointer at Arkansas Tech in their match-up in 2012-13. It was the first time in 403 games that Southern had failed to hit a three pointer, dating back to Jan. 20, 1999 against Missouri S&T. The Lions have had a three in 47-straight games since Arkansas Tech in 2012-13.  

Three Point Galore: Southern hit 15 three pointers against Southwest Baptist, tying a school record. The team shot 71.4 percent from beyond the arc, just missing the record for three-point field goal percentage in a game.

Big Time Scoring: The Lions have scored 90 points in 11 games this season and have had ten different games where they have won by 20 or more points. 

Up Next: The Lions will wait to find out their opponent for the second round of the 2014 MIAA Basketball Tournament in Kansas City. 

Southern baseball improves to 12-0 with sweep of Fort Hays State

(From MSSU Lions Athletic News)

The Missouri Southern baseball team is off to the best start in team history as the Lions completed the four-game sweep of Fort Hays State, winning game one 7-2 and the nightcap 2-1. 

Southern (12-0, 8-0 MIAA) beats the previous best start to a season of 11-0 that the team set in 2012. Drew Noble picked up his third win of the season in game one, while Ryan Bates moved to 2-0 with a win in game two. 

The Lions started things off with three runs in the first inning of game one. Robbe Ewing tripled down the left field line scoring both Logan Moon and Mitchell Osburn. Moon had an RBI single earlier in the inning, scoringJared Lupo.

Southern scored another run in the second on an RBI single from Osburn, scoring Evin Natick. The Lions scored a run in the fourth and two in the fifth to put the game away. 

Noble started and went five innings, striking out four and walking just one, while scattering four hits and just two earned runs. Stephen Vaughn pitched the final two innings and struck out four. 

Osburn went 3-4 with a run and two RBIs, while Lupo went 2-3 with a run scored. Ewing drove in two, while seven different Lions scored a run. 

Bates started game two and went seven innings, striking out five and walking none. He allowed just one earned run. Vaughn threw the final two innings and picked up save number three on the season, striking out two and walking none. 

The Lions scored a run in the first on an RBI single from Tee Helsel. They added what would be the go-ahead run in the fourth on a sac fly RBI from Zack Steadman, scoring Brandon Weller. 

Fort Hays (3-8, 2-6 MIAA) scored its lone run in the sixth and despite having two runners reach second in the final two innings, Vaughn shut down the Tigers. 

Helsel went 2-2 with a run driven in, while Steadman had the other RBI. Lupo and Weller scored each, while Weller and Natick had two of the Lions four hits in the game. 

Southern will travel to Rolla, Mo. this Wednesday as the Lions will go out of conference for a 2 pm single, nine-inning game. 

MSSU's Morgan places fifth in pentathlon

(From MSSU Lions Athletic News)

 Missouri Southern sophomore Kaylee Morgan placed fifth in the pentathlon today after day one of the 2014 MIAA Indoor Track and Field Championships, hosted by MSSU at the Leggett & Platt Athletic Center. 

Morgan finished with 3,479 points, a provisional mark that ranks 16th nationally. Morgan was sixth in the hurdles, fourth in the high jump and long jump, while placing 14th in the shot put and 16th in the 800m to earn the Lions four points in the early standings. 

The Lions will start the rest of the meet tomorrow morning with field events beginning at 1 pm.