ST. JOSEPH, Mo. - Griffon Men's Basketball (6-2) exploded with 55 second half points and overcame a first half deficit, downing Arkansas Tech 90-72 on Friday afternoon at the MWSU Fieldhouse.
MoWest, winners of three straight and a perfect 4-0 at home, got off to a somewhat slow start, trailing 20-11 with 13:41 left in the first half.
The Griffs stayed in it, but never led in the first half, trailing 39-35 at halftime. MoWest took the lead for good at the 16:33 mark of the second half, thanks to a Noah King three-pointer.
Arkansas Tech (1-4) hung around for a bit after that, but a 13-3 Griffon run in the last eight minutes put MoWest in control at 82-66 with 4:39 remaining.
King put up a new collegiate career-high with 31 points on 10-of-18 shooting, including 4-of-10 from three. King was also 7-of-8 on the foul line. Ty Henry tied a season-best with 16 points, while Trey McKowen came off the bench and set a new season-high with 15 points. William Kiburis chipped in 12 points on 4-of-7 shooting. Marko Pavlovic led the way in rebounding with 11 in all.
MoWest shot a blistering 18-of-27 (66.7%) in the second half and 30-of-59 (50.8%) on the day. The Griffs tied a season-high with 13 made three-pointers, going 13-of-31 (41.9%) on the day.
MoWest is back home to open MIAA conference play on Tuesday, December 3 against rival Northwest Missouri State. Tip-off from the MWSU Fieldhouse is set for 7:30 p.m. The game will be broadcast live on the Griffon Sports Network (Varsity Network App, GoGriffons.com/listen) and available to watch on the MIAA Network.
