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Lions lose heartbreaker to No. 24 CMSU in MIAA Tournament KANSAS CITY, MO. -- Missouri Southern trimmed a seven-point deficit down to three with four seconds remaining, but F Myron Hodge's potential tying three-pointer fell short and the No. 7 seed Lions lost 64-61 to second-seeded and No. 24-ranked Central Missouri State 64-61 Friday night (Mar. 3) in the first round of the MIAA Postseason Tournament. Seniors Dan Jones and Quentin Edwards each gave monster efforts for the Lions and combined for 40 points in their last outing at Missouri Southern. Trailing 63-59 after Edwards hit one of two from the foul line, the ball went out of bounds off the Mules to give the Lions an extra possession. Edwards then drove the lane for a layup to cut the lead down to two. Michael Hicks then missed one of two at the foul line to give the Lions one last chance, but Southern was unable to capitalize on the final opportunity. The Lions stayed close throughout the second half despite never able to grab the lead in the second stanza. After trailing 41-37 at halftime, the Lions scored eight of the first 12 points of the second half and pulled even, 45-45 on a pair of senior F/C Dan Jones free throws with 11:37 left in the contest. The biggest lead the Mules could muster was seven points on two occasions, the first being 59-52 with 1:45 left after Michael Hicks hit two from the charity stripe. Missouri Southern could not have scripted a better start as they scored of the 11 of the first 13 points, with Jones scoring five early points to lead the Lions early charge. The Lions continued the hot start and led 16-7 after junior F Ed Miles nailed a three-pointer a little more than five minutes into the contest. The Mules fought back and out-scored the Lions 15-3 over the next five minutes to lead 22-19 with 10:04 left in the opening half. Both teams struggled from the field in the second half, as the Lions shot only 25 percent (6-of-24) compared to 50 percent (10-of-20) in the first half. CMSU wasn't much better at 33.3 percent (8-of-24) after going 11-of-26 (42.3 percent) in the opening half. The Lions were out-rebounded 38-31 for the game and 12-9 on the offensive glass.
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