Lions fall to Griffons in Kansas City

Mar. 7—Missouri Southern just didn't quite have it Wednesday evening inside the historic Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City.

And that could really explain the entire season for the Lions — just didn't quite have it.

Eighth-seeded MSSU (13-16) fell behind in the first half and never got a lead as it fought from behind for a lot of the game on the way to a 62-56 loss to ninth-seeded Missouri Western (17-12) in the opening round of the MIAA conference tournament.

In fact, Southern only led for 15 seconds of the contest.

"Tough night. We just didn't shoot the ball very well," MSSU head coach Sam McMahon said. "I thought we got some good shots, especially around the rim. And then we missed some open shots. I thought our guys played extremely hard and tough. That's a good team (MWSU), so credit to them. I think their length bothered us around the basket."

MWSU head coach Will Martin said: "We just wanted to be really solid. I think sometimes we can overcomplicate things. We did send some doubles in the post. I think Darius Dawson has garnered that type of attention."

Martin noted he wasn't happy with his team's 15 turnovers to the Lions' seven but admitted that he will excuse it when his group wins the rebounding battle by 14 (43-29) like it did Wednesday night.

Final game of season

MSSU's season comes to a close with this loss. It had multiple close games throughout the year that saw the outcome not go its way. One of those was a 62-61 defeat at Missouri Western on Dec. 2.

That game was similar to this one in that MSSU was held to 38% three months ago and shot just 36.8% this time around. There was a big drop off in 3-point percentage from 37.5% to just 20%.

"It's hard to beat any team especially a good team like Western. They're talented and well-coached. They were the better team tonight," McMahon said.

The Lions were 5 for 25 from outside on Wednesday; they only made 9 of 16 free throws.

The Griffons' Taye Fields had success on the interior by making four baskets around the rim and also making 7 of 8 free throws.

"I'll give that to my teammates and my coaching staff trusting me with the plays that we run," Fields said. "They give me an extreme amount of confidence to go out and do what I do."

Fields finished with 15 points and 15 rebounds.

It appeared the Lions had a chance to make things happen after getting a steal with about 40 seconds left in the game but they couldn't get a shot to fall and lost a jump ball with the possession arrow pointing toward the Griffons.

Missouri Western ended up with a dunk on the other end from Kiani Saxon as Southern went for the steal and gave up 2 points instead making it 60-53 with 13 seconds left.

MSSU raced down the floor and got a quick 3-pointer to make it 60-56 from Avery Taggart. The Lions then fouled with 5 seconds left and Fields made both free shots for Western to seal the win.

"You just have to grind it out and we got close," McMahon said. "It's just deflating when you're wide open or you miss a couple chippies (layups) or you miss free throws when you're cutting into the lead."

'Talented team'

"All the credit in the world to Missouri Southern," Martin said. "Such a talented team. They're extremely well-coached. We knew that it was going to be a really tough matchup. And they do a really good job — as good as anyone in our conference — of scouting. ... They make your job really tough."

McMahon referred to it as a "rock fight" as both teams shot poorly from the field and were just grinding down to the final buzzer.

MWSU shot just 41% in the game and 21.7% from outside while also struggling to 11 of 16 on free throws.

Southern cut the deficit to just 3 points early in the second half after trailing by 7 at halftime, 29-22, but it never got any closer than that the rest of the way.

The Lions went on a scoring run of 6-0 to cut the Griffons' lead to 31-28. But the Griffons got a basket from Julius Dixon to end the run at the 16:51-mark.

Western ran its lead out to 12 at 40-28 with about 14 minutes to go. Southern answered by scoring 5 points on a pull up jumper from Parker Long and then a triple in the corner from Winston Dessesow to make it 40-33.

Vinson Sigmon Jr. converted a layup with 9:53 left in the game to make it 43-37. He was fouled on the basket but couldn't make the free throw. That was one missed opportunity for MSSU as it also missed the next two free shots when Taggart went to the charity stripe on the next possession.

Southern fell behind by as many as 12 with 6:36 left on the clock. But it didn't lay down.

A late push from the home team made it 56-51 after layups from Lawson Jenkins and Sigmon. That was with three minutes to go. But then the Lions went quiet for the rest of the game adding two more free throws with less than a minute to go from Sigmon. Then they got the 3-pointer from Taggart.

Western was led in scoring by JaRon Thames with 18. Sigmon led Southern with 17.

MWSU advances to face top seed Northwest Missouri State at 6 p.m. Thursday.

JaRon Thames spoke on getting the chance to upset the top team in the conference and extending his collegiate career.

"It's a great opportunity. I'm just going to play hard for my teammates and coaching staff and go out there and give everything I got," he said.

STICKING AROUND?

MSSU's Martin Macenis is listed as a redshirt senior of the Lions' roster but still has at least one year of eligibility if he chooses to return.

The 6-foot-5 guard from Hickory Hills, Illinois, talked about playing at MSSU and his future.

"It's been awesome. I've gotten to meet great coaches, great players and just had a blast," Macenis said. "But I was talking to coach Sam (McMahon) earlier and I might be coming back next year, too."

Macenis might still have two years of eligibility. His freshman year was the 2019-20 season that was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But he was also redshirted that year. The next season resulted in a medical redshirt due to an injury he suffered. That should have still left him with four full years of eligibility.

He's now played in three seasons for the Lions and definitely has one year left. The potential fifth year would be whether or not he gets the COVID-19 year back since he was already redshirted that year.

"I don't even know how many years he's got left to be honest with you," McMahon said. "You've seen him improve as a player. He didn't play much up until this year. ... But he really came into his own and he's playing with a ton of confidence. Just for him to maybe come back and play another year, that would be awesome."