By Jim Henry
jhenry@joplinglobe.com
With three weeks remaining in the regular season, Missouri Southern tips off a key stretch tonight against Missouri Western.
The Lions (12-8, 6-7 MIAA are sixth in the conference standings, one game behind Nebraska-Omaha and one-half game ahead of Washburn and Northwest Missouri State. Starting with the 7:30 game against the Griffons, the Lions play four of their next five games at the Leggett & Platt Athletic Center.
“This is a huge stretch for us,” Lions head coach Robert Corn said. “We need to make sure we take advantage of it.”
Missouri Western (13-7, 8-5) sits in fourth place in the MIAA, one-half game behind Southwest Baptist.
The Griffons are coming off a 79-65 victory over No. 3-ranked Fort Hays State, and in 2010, there’s been no place like home for head coach Tom Smith’s Griffons.
Since Jan. 1, Missouri Western has won its five conference home games by an average of 7.8 points, and it’s lost all four league games by an average of 16.8 points.
The Griffons ended 2009 by winning an 89-84 shootout over Missouri Southern on Dec. 30. Justin Taylor’s 18 points topped six players in double figures for the Griffons.
The Lions owned a 33-19 lead before mistakes in the final two minutes of the first half whittled their lead to 39-38.
Jason Adams nailed six 3-pointers while scoring a career-high 34 points for the Lions. He’s fourth in the conference in scoring at 18.1 points per game.
“We had way too many turnovers (21) the first time we played them,” Corn said. “Our pressure didn’t bother them up there. They haven’t been a good free-throw shooting team on the season (59.8 percent), but they shot them well against us (23-of-32). If they do a good job on penetration and we do a poor job on defense, foul and send them to the line, it could be a big factor in the game.”
With an open date last Wednesday, the Lions have been sitting on a two-game losing streak for a week.
“You hate to have down time after losing a game, especially losing two in a row,” Corn said. “Maybe it will give our guys an opportunity to catch their breath a little bit, get their legs back and be ready to finish strong these last three weeks.
