KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Missouri Western struggled from three-point range on Sunday night, dropping an 81-77 overtime loss to Henderson State. The Griffons led 39-34 at the half and held the lead for more than 30 minutes in the contest, but couldn't withstand a late run by the Reddies.

Henderson State took an early lead, but Missouri Western battled back to tie it 11-11 on an Anthony Peacock layup with 14:45 on the clock. The teams traded the lead back and forth over the next few minutes, but an Alex John layup with 4:19 left in the half allowed the Griffons to start stretching out a bit of a lead. MWSU took a 39-34 lead into the locker room, with a last-second three by the Reddies making it even that close. 

After a quiet first half, JaQuaylon Mays erupted to start the second half, scoring six straight and 12 of 16 for the Griffons in a 16-9 run to open the second stanza. The run stretched Missouri Western's lead to 55-43, its biggest lead of the night with 12:29 on the clock.

The Reddies surged a couple of times down the stretch, looking to close the gap. Missouri Western was able to withstand the first two surges, but not the third. Henderson State closed out with a 14-4 run over the final 4:16 of regulation and extended it to 21-7 over the first 2:30 of the extra stanza.

John broke the Reddies run with a pair of free throws and tied it up at 77-77 with a putback with 48 seconds left. Unfortunately, Missouri Western couldn't answer a pair of free throw makes by HSU with 19 seconds to play, and were forced to foul as Xavier Davenport pulled down a rebound with 4.8 to go.

The Griffons fall to 1-3 on the season, and return to action on Friday to open the Hillyard Tip-Off Classic. Missouri Western hosts Oklahoma Baptist in the second game of a doubleheader, with tipoff set for 7:30 p.m. Northwest Missouri State takes on UMSL in the opening contest of the tournament weekend, with tickets available at gogriffons.com/tickets.