By Anvil Welch

awelch@joplinglobe.com

Missouri Southern and Pittsburg State shared a trait in winning basketball games in the 14th annual Freeman Sports Medicine/Chris Tucker Memorial Classic on Friday night.

Neither head coach, however, appreciated the necessity of playing a very improved second half.

Missouri Southern, pulling away in the second half after leading just 31-30 at intermission, triumphed 73-62 against Mid-America Christian of Oklahoma City.

Pittsburg State, leading 26-25 at the half, built a 22-point lead in the second half in winning 65-49 over Lincoln of Jefferson City in the opener in the Leggett & Platt Athletic Center.

Said Southern coach Robert Corn: “It wasn’t a pretty win. But it was a good win. I haven’t seen a bad win.”

Said PSU coach Gene Iba: “It was a first game (for the Gorillas). Obviously, there will be a lot of things to work on. But, all-in-all, it wasn’t a bad first game.”

Southern and PSU switch opponents today with PSU meeting Mid-America Christian (0-6) at 5 p.m. and Lincoln (2-1) facing Southern (3-0) at 7.

Southern, 73-62

Skyler Bowlin scored 19 points to head a balanced attack — five players tallied eight or more points — and dished out five assists for the Lions.

Bowlin 6-of-11 accuracy from the field included 3-of-4 treys.

The Lions also got 12 points from Matt Monroe, who was 6-of-9 from the floor, and 11 from Vincent Ateba. Monroe and Ateba also combined to grab 15 rebounds.

The Lions built a 16-point lead in the second half with 6:07 left in the game.

Southern opened the contest with an 11-2 lead before the Evangels used a 9-0 burst to catch up.