ST. JOSEPH, Mo. – The third-seeded Missouri Western men's basketball team rallied from a 17-point deficit Wednesday night in the quarterfinals of the MIAA Tournament to defeat Lincoln in overtime, 84-76, inside the MWSU Fieldhouse. With the win, the Griffons improve to 14-9 and advance to the semifinals on Friday as they'll play No. 2 seed Washburn at 7:30 p.m. inside Bearcat Arena. Northwest Missouri State will be the host of the semifinals and the championship of the MIAA Tournament.
Missouri Western got off to a slow start Wednesday night as Lincoln used a 13-2 run after the Griffs scored the first basket of the game and they led for the next 37 and a half minutes. The Griffons missed their first 11 three-point field goals as the Blue Tigers led by as many as 13 points in the first half and then MWSU had to face even more adversity. All-MIAA 2
nd Team point guard
Tyrell Carroll had to leave the game with an injury with 8:37 left in the half and wasn't able to return the rest of the game.
Lincoln started to pull away late in the first half as they scored five points in the final five seconds of the half to take a 43-30 lead into the locker room. Then they scored the first four points of the second half to build a 17-point lead and force MWSU head coach
Will Martin to call a timeout.
The Griffons then started their comeback as they immediately went on a 16-4 run to get the deficit back to single digits as they trailed 51-46 with 11:37 left in the second half. The Blue Tigers were able to hold off MWUS as the lead stayed between four and 10 points for the next eight minutes until a
Q Mays' jumper pulled Missouri Western within two, 63-61, with 3:17 left. Lincoln continued to hold the Griffons off as LU's Quinton Drayton made two free throws with 20 seconds left to increase their lead to 70-66.
Mays missed a three-point shot for MWSU on the next possession with 15 second left, but
Will Eames was able to grab an offensive rebound and he got the ball to
Reese Glover at the top of the key. Glover used a shot fake, dribbled once to his left, leaned into Yaniel Vidal to draw a foul and made a three-pointer with 7.9 second left in regulation to pull within one. He then made the free throw to tie the game and the Griffons forced overtime as they turned Lincoln over with 1.1 seconds left.
In OT, the Blue Tigers scored the first two points and then Missouri Western took command with an 8-0 run to take their first lead since it was 2-0.
Q Mays made two free throws to start the run and then Glover and Mays knocked down back-to-back threes. MWSU outscored LU 14-6 in overtime to complete the comeback.
Mays had a career high for the Griffons as he took over the point guard duties for Carroll. He played 41 minutes, scored a career-high 32 points, added eight rebounds and had three assists. Glover was 2-of-14 from behind the arc before he made his last two, the four-point play and the three in OT as he finished with 14 points.
Caleb Bennett added 14 points, seven rebounds and three assists.
Missouri Western finished the game 13-of-39 from the three-point line after missing their first 11. They shot just 38.2% (26-68) from the field but they outrebounded Lincoln 42-36, including 14-6 on the offensive glass.
The MIAA Tournament semifinals will take place in Maryville after top-seeded Northwest defeated Emporia State, 100-61, on Wednesday. The Bearcats play No. 5 seed Central Oklahoma in the first semifinal on Friday at 5:00 p.m. as UCO beat Missouri Southern, 109-101. Then it'll be the 2-3 matchup as the third-seeded Griffons will play Washburn for the third time this season at 7:30 p.m. inside Bearcat Arena. Washburn defeated Rogers State, 78-59, in their semifinal Wednesday. The game on Friday will be the Griffon Sports Network (95.3 FM/680 AM) and the MIAA Network.
