The Griffons make a short road trip to Kansas City in their second of three season-opening tournament weekends on Friday night. (RV) Missouri Western takes on Minnesota State University Mankato in the Central Region Challenge, with tipoff from historic Municipal Auditorium set for approximately 7:45 p.m. The game marks the finale of day one action in the tournament.

LAST TIME OUT
The three-pronged shooting attack of JaQuaylon Mays, Reese Glover and Caleb Bennett powered Missouri Western to a 93-82 win over no. 8 St. Thomas Aquinas College on Sunday. The Griffons shot an impressive 60 percent from three-point range in the upset. Bennett was a perfect 5-of-5 from downtown and Glover's eight makes is a career-high and just two short of the program single-game record set by Tyus Millhollin in the 2019-20 season. Mays led all scorers in the contest with 25 points as Missouri Western picked up its third win over a ranked team in the young tenure of head coach Will Martin.

The first half was a back-and-forth battle, with neither team able to stretch out a big lead. Missouri Western came out on the right side of nine lead changes in the first half as Mays drilled a three from 35 feet at the halftime buzzer for a 46-45 margin.

It was a different story in the second half, however, as the Griffons came out of the locker room looking like a team fresh off a week's rest instead of a team on a 24-hour turnaround from an overtime thriller. Luis Risquez found a seam in the lane to briefly give the Spartans a one-point lead, but Mays answered with a triple on the opposite end to put MWSU back in front 49-47.

The visitors were able to tie it up after a pair of traded turnovers, with Grant Singleton hitting a short jumper, but the tie lasted all of 22 seconds as Will Eames drew a foul and sank both free throws to put Missouri Western up 51-49. It sparked a 24-11 Griffon run over the next 8:26 and the Griffons held the Spartans at arms length down the stretch, including a scoreless stretch over the final 2:08.

AGAINST THE MAVERICKS
This is the first meeting between the teams.

SCOUTING THE MAVERICKS
Minnesota State finished the 2021 season with a 10-7 (9-5 NSIC) record, and lost a 73-61 double-overtime heartbreaker to MSU-Moorhead in the first round of the NSIC Tournament. Head coach Matt Margenthaler returns four players that averaged better than 10 points per contest in 2021: Quincy Anderson (17.1 pts./6.1 reb.), Devonte Thedford (13.5 pts/3.5 ast), Malik Willingham (11.6 pts) and Ryland Holt (10.8 pts/5.5 reb) - and is in his 21st season at the helm for the Mavericks. He brings a 420-187 (.691) record into tonight's contest.

As a team, Minnesota State shot 46.4 percent (490-1056) from the floor and 38.9 percent (155-398) from distance. The Mavericks mustered a 73.7 percent mark at the free throw line, and handed out 13.4 assists per game compared to 12.5 turnovers. MSU held a slight edge on the glass (38.9-34.9) over the 2021 season, but were prone to getting burned by turnovers, as opponents averaged 12.6 points per game off of turnovers while the Mavericks were only able to force 9.6 turnovers per game.

Tonight is the season opener for the Mavericks.

RECORD SETTERS
Will Eames set a new career high (matching his unofficial mark from 2021) with 17 (1 off, 16 def) rebounds against Embry-Riddle on Nov. 5. The mark not only set a career high for Thames and lands him in the top-ten single-game high for Missouri Western, it was a new record for the Small College Basketball Hall of Fame Classic. Eames broke a three-year-old record set by Shaun Willett of Queens College, who grabbed 16 rebounds against William Jewell on Nov. 3, 2018.