By Jim Henry
jhenry@joplinglobe.com
Nebraska-Omaha head coach Derrin Hansen glanced at the scoreboard as the final seconds ticked off and said “Wow.”
That word summarizes Missouri Southern’s performance Wednesday night as the Lions blistered the Mavericks in the second half for a 107-71 victory at the Leggett & Platt Athletic Center.
The Lions (18-11, 8-11 MIAA) shot 51 percent while building a 47-38 halftime lead, then hit 71 percent (22-of-31) while outscoring UNO 60-33 in the second half and reaching the century mark in an MIAA game for the first time since a 101-77 victory at Truman State on Feb. 23, 2002.
“Give them all the credit,” Hansen said. “They played like a team playing for their lives, and we didn’t.”
The Lions’ dominating performance kept their MIAA Postseason Tournament hopes alive. They are eighth in the league, one game ahead of Northwest Missouri State, which lost at home 81-58 to league-leading Southwest Baptist. The Lions entertain Northwest Missouri at 3 p.m. Saturday and the winner secures the tournament berth.
Skyler Bowlin, sophomore guard, tallied 25 points to lead six Lions in double figures. Bowlin hit 9-of-13 shots from the field and 5-of-7 from 3-point range, including a trey he banked in from the top of the circle to end the first half and another during the second-half pullaway.
Jason Adams hit 6-of-8 shots from the floor and collected 16 points, five assists and three steals. His first-half dunk on a 3-on-1 fast break produced one of the night’s biggest roars.
“When Jason dunked on the dude on the fast break, that was the best play of the game,” sophomore forward Chris Scruggs said.
Guard Mariun Price contributed 15 points and four assists for the Lions, followed by Scruggs with a career-high 13, freshman guard Travis Jones with a career-high 11 and Vincent Ateba with 10 in 18 minutes.
“This was a game we had to get,” Price said. “We came out and played relaxed and did what we had to do. With your backs against the wall, anything can happen. We knew we had to get them here, and we came out and performed well.”
Scruggs, Matt Monroe and DaRell Crittendon each grabbed eight rebounds as the Lions held a 41-36 rebounding advantage.
“I’ve been feeling more comfortable,” Scruggs said. “I’ve had a couple of good practices, and I had a good game last Saturday at Fort Hays State. I’ve been trying to build on that.”
The Lions also turned in solid play on the defensive end, limiting the Mavericks (16-10, 10-9) to 36 percent shooting and holding their talented guard trio to a season-low 23 points — 10 by Michael Jenkins (who averages 17.2), eight by Andrew Bridger (12.1) and five by Mitch Albers (16.8). They had 60 points in a 74-64 victory over the Lions last month in Omaha.
Scruggs scored twice on the inside to start the second half, Bowlin hit back-to-back treys and Price’s three-point play off a drive down the lane concluded a 17-10 spurt for a 64-48 lead just over four minutes into the second half. The lead jumped to 73-52 on Matt Monroe’s layup with 12 minutes left and 87-57 on an Adams jumper five minutes later.
“They went to the post early and got a couple of easy ones,” Hansen said. “Then Skyler banked in his second one of the night, and it really started going downhill.”
“When you start banking it in from the 3-point line, you usually have the feeling it’s going to be your night,” Lions head coach Robert Corn said. “After losing two tough games on the road, you never know how your team is going to react. I thought we’d come out and play hard and play well, but to play as well as we did, I didn’t see this coming at all.”
Neither did Hansen.
“We’d played better as of late,” he said. “Even splitting last week, we beat Central Missouri and battled Southwest Baptist hard on their floor. For whatever reason, we didn’t have it tonight, and Southern had a lot to do with it. I’m not taking anything from them.”
