Lions get big win against Gorillas
By: Import User
Updated: January 7, 2009
JOPLIN, Mo. - Dan Jones scored a career-high 28 points and collected his fourth double-double of the season in leading Missouri Southern to a 75-63 victory Wednesday (Feb. 15) over Pittsburg State in the Del Rio Bordertown Battle at the Leggett & Platt Athletic Center.
Jones, a 6-foot-7 senior, scored 17 points in the second half in helping the Lions (12-13, 5-9 MIAA) break open a close game just after halftime. He scored 11 points, starting with a dunk off a midcourt feed from sophomore G Tyler Ryerson, after Pittsburg State had pulled to within six points, 42-36, with 16:54 to play. From there, Missouri Southern outscored the Gorillas 21-11 over the next 11:38 and put the game away.
PSU led 4-0 in the game`s first three minutes, but the Lions took command with a 19-6 burst over a stretch of 9:24. In fact, the Gorillas didn`t make a field goal over a span 7:09 in the first half. Pitt State shot 30.8 percent (8-of-26) in the first half and made its only two three-pointers of the game in the opening period.
PSU also had 10 first-half turnovers.
In the second, the Lions out-rebounded the Gorillas 22-16. With a 5-0 run at the charity stripe, Pitt State cut the margin to 42-36 after Southern jumped to a 42-31 lead in the first 1:27 of the second period.
But MSSU senior G Quentin Edwards knocked down a pair of free throws before Jones` thunderous dunk sparked the Lions to finish off the contest.
Edwards added 15 points and four steals for Southern. Jones, in addition to his 28 points, had 10 rebounds. Ryerson finished with eight assists for the Lions and he moved into fifth place on the MSSU single-season assists chart with 170 for the year.
Pitt State had three players in double figures, led by 15 each from junior F Daniel Blair and junior F Ed Morris, who went a combined 16-of-23 at the free throw line. Senior G Eddie Jackson, guarded through much of the night by Ryerson, was held to 12 points, eight below his season average. Morris posted a game-high 16 rebounds for his fourth consecutive double-double.
