Crittendon led five Lions in double-figures, going 9-14 from the field and 2-3 from long range. Price and Adams scored 16, while Matt Monroe and Vincent Ateba scored ten. Skyler Bowlin had eight points, seven assists and four steals.

Northwest (12-15, 7-13 MIAA) scored the game's first bucket, but a three from Monroe gave the Lions a 3-2 lead and Southern (19-11, 9-11 MIAA) would lead from that point on. A jumper from Ateba gave Southern a 30-21 lead with 6:33 left in the first half, but a layup from the Bearcats' Jake Reinders with 45 seconds remaining made the halftime score 35-30 Lions.

Crittendon had nine points on 4-7 shooting from the field in the first half. Adams, Price and Monroe had seven each.

A three from Crittendon two minutes into the second half, made the Lions' lead 39-30. A running baseline jumper from Adams with 12:38 left gave the Lions a 51-41 lead and he completed the three point play to give the Lions an 11 point lead. A fast-break layup from Adams with 2:40 left gave the Lions a 77-65 lead and the free-throw on the foul pushed the Lions' advantage to 13.

A layup from Crittendon with a minute to go pushed the score to 80-69 and a free throw from Ateba made it 81-69. A dunk from Adams with 20 seconds left put an explanation point on the game and sealed the win for the Lions.

The Lions shot 49 percent from the field and 79 percent from the free-throw line. Southern forced 16 turnovers and scored 20 points off of the miscues. The Lions outscored the Bearcats 40-32 in the paint.

The Lions will now wait to find out what seed they will receive next week in Kansas City. Southern will face off with Central Missouri no matter what happens tonight between Missouri Western and Southwest Baptist. A loss by the Griffons to the Bearcats will give SBU the No. one seed with the Lions facing off with Central as the two seed. A win by Western will give Central the no. 1 seed and leave the Lions with the eighth seed facing off against the Mules.