Southern (16-6, 10-3 MIAA) is now tied with Southwest Baptist for first place in the MIAA as the Bearcats lost at Washburn tonight, 71-68. Saturday night's game between the two teams in Bolivar will be for outright possession of first place in the conference. Ironically, when the two teams met earlier in the year, the exact same situation was in play, with SBU taking the first meeting, 90-77 in Joplin.

The Lions took a 10-8 lead five minutes in after a layup from Octavius Hawkins. The lead grew to 15 (30-15) after a three pointer from Tony Webb capped a 20-8 run by Southern.

A three from Andrew Davison, however, capped a 16-2 run by the Hornets (11-11, 6-7 MIAA) and cut the Southern lead to 32-31 with 3:35 remaining in the first half. The Lions went on to outscore ESU 7-3 to end the half, up 39-34.

Southern led the entire second half, but Emporia cut the lead one after a layup from DeAndre Townsend with 7:33 left made the score 60-59. Webb answered with six straight points, putting the Lions back up 66-61, but four straight points from Spencer Allen cut the lead back to one (66-65) with five minutes to go.

Skyler Bowlin had two huge steals down the stretch that led directly to four fast break points for the Lions, the first coming with his own layup and the second leading to a dunk from Vincent Ateba. The Lions outscored ESU 8-2 over the final three minutes to close out the game.

Webb poured in his second-straight 20 plus point game as the junior scored 25 points on 10-16 from the field and 3-4 from long range. He was also a perfect 2-2 from the free-throw line. Ateba scored 18 and added four assists, while Hawkins chipped in 15 points on 6-8 shooting.

Southern shot 52 percent from the field on the night and 42 percent from long range. They forced 17 turnovers that led directly to 25 points off the miscues. The Lions held the MIAA's leading scorer, Townsend, to just 12 points on the night, eight off his league-leading average. Marvin Lee led the scoring attack for ESU with 17 points and nine boards.

Southern will head to Bolivar this Saturday night in a showdown with Southwest Baptist for first place in the MIAA. Tip off from the Meyer Sports Center will be 7:30 pm.