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December 3, 2012

Lions return home after road win

By Jim Henry Globe Sports Editor

Missouri Southern capped its four-game road swing with a 58-50 victory at Arkansas Tech last Saturday night.

“I knew this would be a tough stretch for this team because we lost so much offense from last year’s team,” Lions coach Robert Corn said. “You can learn some lessons on the road – most of them you learn in a bad way. I knew this would be difficult, but to get a win in the last game of the road trip, I’m proud of the guys and the effort they put forth.”

The Lions are back at home tonight to play Central Bible College from Springfield. Tipoff is at 7 at the Leggett & Platt Athletic Center.

The Lions (4-3) trailed Arkansas Tech 22-16 at halftime. But after shooting just 26 percent from the field in the second half, the Lions made 12-of-20 shots from the field and 18-of-25 free throws while outscoring the Wonder Boys 42-28 in the second half.

“It was really a good win for us,” Corn said. “The way we’d been playing on the road, any win is a good win, but this was against a good team. They were struggling like we were. They’re not shooting very good (30 percent from the floor). Hopefully our defense had something to do with it. This was our best effort, and to win on the road, it has to start on the defensive end.

“This team needed something positive to happen, to reinforce if you do things right, positive things will happen. We had two good days of practice leading up to the game, and they saw the reward on Saturday night.”

Three Lions reached double figures – guard Marquis Addison with 18 points, forward Jordan Talbert with 15 and guard R.J. Leverette with 10.

The Lions did go 0-for-11 from 3-point range against Arkansas Tech. The last time the Lions failed to make a trey was Jan. 20, 1999, in a 74-53 loss at Missouri-Rolla.

“The 3-point shot will eventually start falling for us,” Corn said. “I thought we had pretty good looks at the basket. We didn’t knock them down. But we reversed the ball with some quickness, then we didn’t hesitate and were aggressive taking it to the basket.”

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