ST. JOSEPH, Mo. –  The Missouri Western men's basketball team stopped its seven-game losing streak Saturday as Caleb Bennett made a shot at the buzzer to defeat Pittsburg State, 82-81, inside the MWSU Fieldhouse.  The Griffons improve to 9-8 this season and Pitt State drops to 10-9.
 
MWSU led 78-70 after a Tyrell Carroll layup with 1:36 left in the second half, but the Gorillas made three clutch three-pointers and went on an 11-2 run.  After a Western turnover with 8.2 second left, Pittsburg's Martin Vogts capped off the run with a three-point field goal from the left wing with five seconds left in regulation to give PSU an 81-80 lead.
 
Without a timeout left, Missouri Western inbounded the ball quickly to Carroll as he raced to the free throw line and threw the ball to the corner.  The ball got deflected but ended up in the hands of Bennett, who took a dribble to about 15 feet out in the short corner, he elevated, double-clutched the shot and swished it as time expired.  The referees reviewed the play to see if the clock started on time and if Bennett got the shot off in time, and the shot counted.
 
It was just Bennett's second field goal of the game as he was in foul trouble for much of the contest.  Carroll led the Griffons with 25 points and five assists, while Reese Glover added 19 points and Will Eames recorded his seventh double-double of the season.  He had 12 points and 17 rebounds.  It's the most rebounds in a game for a Missouri Western player since Dzenan Mrkaljevic had 17 against Sterling College on November 13, 2012.
 
MWSU struggled to shoot the ball early as they played catch up for most of the first half.  They fell behind by as many as seven in the first 20 minutes, but rallied and trailed 40-38 at halftime.
 
The Griffs scored the first six points of the second half to take the lead and then the two teams traded baskets and eventually the scored was tied 59-59 with just under nine minutes to play in the game.  That's when Missouri Western used a 10-1 run to take its biggest lead and they led the rest of the way until Vogts' shot went down with five second left that set up the heroics of Bennett.
 
The Griffons shot 44.9% (31-69) on Saturday and made 9-of-25 three-point field goals.  They were outrebounded 38-37 but MWSU had 13 offensive rebounds and committed just nine turnovers.  After being outscored in the paint 146-58 the last three games combined, Western outscored Pitt State in the paint 38-28.
 
JaRon Thames chipped in eight points for the Griffons, Q Mays had seven and Alex John added four points, six rebounds and three blocked shots.
 
UP NEXT
Missouri Western will play its sixth game in 10 days on Monday as they entertain Newman at 7:30 p.m. inside the MWSU Fieldhouse.  The game will be live on the Griffon Sports Network (680 AM/95.3 FM) and the MIAA Network.