PSU basketball teams register victories

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November 24, 2012

PSU basketball teams register victories

Anonymous From staff reports The Joplin Globe Sat Nov 24, 2012, 11:28 PM CST

Pittsburg State’s defense limited Avila to six points in the first 17 minutes of the second half and pulled away for a 65-41 victory Saturday in the Pizza Hut/Fairfield Inn Thanksgiving Classic at Missouri Southern’s Leggett & Platt Athletic Center.

The Gorillas shot 46 percent (25-of-55) from the floor while Avila was at 29 percent (15-of-51, including 4-of-20 in the second half).

Sophomore forward Lizzy Jeronimus, who popped in 29 points in the Gorillas’ victory over Evangel on Friday night, netted 16 points to lead the Gorillas and was named the tournament’s most valuable player. Guard Drew Roberts scored 15 points, and center Lauren Brown had 12 points, nine rebounds and three blocked shots and also made the all-tournament team.

“It’s a good weekend,” Gorillas coach Lane Lord said. “We won two games, and we got to see some combinations that we needed to see in games. But it looked like we hadn’t played in two weeks. I thought we got a little bit better (Saturday) but we have a long way to go to be a championship basketball team.

“We probably played too many people both days, but this is the time of year to do that and see what kids can do and can’t do and what we need to work on. We got a lot out of the weekend.”

The Gorillas play host to William Jewell at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Psu men 73, Southwestern 60

PITTSBURG, Kan. — The Gorillas pulled away in the second half to claim the nonconference win against the Moundbuilders of Winfield in John Lance Arena.

PSU (4-1) led only 35-34 at the half. It took its first double-digit lead at 53-43 with 11:13 left in the contest. The lead slipped to seven before the Gorillas constructed a 12-point lead.

The biggest advantage for PSU was 15 at 73-58 with 1 1/2 minutes left.

Kaleb Porter, whose accuracy from 3 was 3-for-5, scored 17 points for PSU and Javon McGee snared 15 rebounds and tallied.

The Gorillas also received double-figure scoring from Courtney Ingram with 13.

Southwestern (8-3) was paced in scoring by William Tisdale (16) and Taylor Johnson (15). Tisdale added seven boards.

PSU held a slight advantage shooting from the field — 42.6 percent to 41.7 — and led 41-30 in rebounding. The Gorillas sank 16 of 25 free throws to 11 of 20 by Southwestern.

Southwestern, which overall hit nine of 23 treys, shot only 28.6 percent from the floor in the second half.

The Gorillas entertain William Jewell at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday.