CLAREMORE, Okla. — Despite taking a halftime lead and holding a two-point advantage with five minutes to play, Griffon Men's Basketball fell to Rogers State, 71-61, on Saturday at the Claremore Expo Center.

The Griffons (11-13, 7-11 MIAA) were on fire in the first half, shooting 63.6% (7-of-11) from three and 65.2% (15-of-23) from the field overall, taking a 39-32 halftime lead. In a game with five lead changes and five ties, Rogers State (13-11, 9-9 MIAA) came out of the break and shot 58.3% (14-of-24) from the floor, earning 14 attempts from the free-throw line and making 11 of them after making just 3-of-4 in the first half. The Hillcats used a 9-4 run and in the final eight minutes of the game to take the lead away from MWSU and push their own lead to the largest of the day by any time at 10, defeating the Griffons on RSU's homecoming day.

NOTABLES

• Missouri Western still remains in 10th place in the MIAA, still alive for the conference tournament.
• The Griffons shot 45.5% from downtown, making 10-of-22 attempts.
• Julius Dixon led all Griffons with 13 points. Reese Glover scored 12, and Reed Kemp chipped in 10.
• Glover dished the 100th-assist of his career.
• With five points scored to put him at 1,166 in his career, Will Eames passes Randy Dickerson (1998-00, 1,664 points) for eighth all-time in MWSU history.

UP NEXT
The Griffons have the week off before taking on No. 6/4 Northwest Missouri State (23-2, 16-2 MIAA) on Saturday, February 18, at the MWSU Fieldhouse. The Bearcats are on an MIAA-best nine-game winning streak, last taking out Northeastern State, 79-43, on Saturday in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. Tipoff for Bearcats vs. Griffs is slated for 3:30 p.m.