The 107 points are the most for the Lions since Southern (18-11, 8-11 MIAA) scored 109 last season against Robert Morris-Springfield and mark the first time since 2002 that the Lions scored 100 or more points in MIAA play (101-77 at Truman). The Lions are now a game in front of Northwest Missouri for the eighth and final spot in the 2009 MIAA Post Season Tournament, setting up a winner-take-all contest on Saturday afternoon in Joplin. With a win, the Lions assure themselves a spot in the tournament. With a win and a Missouri Western loss at SBU, Southern would be the seventh seed, with the Griffons at No. 8.

Bowlin scored 25 points on 9-13 shooting from the field, including 5-7 from long range. Jason Adams had 16, while Mariun Price scored 15 and Chris Scruggs poured in a career-high 13 points and eight rebounds, going 6-8 from the field. Travis Jones also chipped in with a career-high 11 points, while Vincent Ateba scored ten.

UNO (16-10, 10-9 MIAA) was led in scoring by Matt Newman with 16 points and seven rebounds, going 6-10 from the field. Michael Jenkins scored ten.

The Lions led by just two (14-12) after a layup from the Mavericks' Mitch Albers at the 14 minute mark of the first half, but pushed the lead to eight (30-22) after a jumper from Bowlin with eight minutes left and eventually took a nine-point lead into the locker room (47-38).

The lead was 21 after a layup from Matt Monroe with 12 minutes left in the second half. A jumper from Adams a minute later made the score 87-57 and a three from Adams with 5:28 left gave the Lions a 95-59 lead. A layup from Patrick Hester with 49 seconds left gave the Lions their largest lead of the night (38) at 107-69, before a layup from UNO's John Ring accounted for the final tally.

Southern shot 61 percent from the field and 46 percent from long range in the game, while limiting the Mavericks to just 36 percent from the field and 23 percent from long range. The Lions forced 13 UNO turnovers and out scored the Mavericks 46-32 in the paint. The Southern bench outscored the UNO reserves 42-26.

The Lions will conclude the regular season this Saturday (Feb. 28) afternoon with a 3 pm matchup against Northwest Missouri. The Lions fell to the Bearcats 72-70 earlier in the season in Maryville.