KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Missouri Western men's basketball (18-13, 9-10 MIAA) held a lead for more than 14 minutes and fought hard in a game with 13 lead changes and 11 ties, but the Griffons fell to Rogers State, 59-56, on Friday in MIAA tournament quarterfinals. RSU's Jabryn Anderson put up a three-pointer as time expired to lift the Hillcats to victory.
Missouri Western got off to a 5-0 start, but RSU answered quick and from that point on, it was anyone's game. Missouri Western trailed 29-28 at halftime after RSU's Sam Davidson hit a layup to give the Hillcats a slim advantage at the break.
The Griffons got down by as many as five points in the second half, but hung around the entire time and went in front 51-50 with 4:47 left, and again led 53-52 with 3:53 left after a driving layup from
Zion Swader.
Down 56-54 with 24 seconds left, the Griffons brought the ball up the floor and
Julius Dixon's pull-up shot in the lane knotted things at 56-56 with six seconds to go. Rogers State called timeout, and out of that timeout, Anderson brought the ball up the floor, spun away on the left wing and put up an acrobatic shot that went down as time expired.
Zane Nelson led Missouri Western with 16 points to go with seven rebounds, four assists and two blocks. Swader scored 11 of his 13 points in the second half to go with five rebounds. Dixon had 9 points, while
Kiani Saxon had 8 points and a team-best eight boards.
Dixon ends his MWSU career with 1060 points in 91 starts. Saxon had started each of the last 61 games for the Griffons. Swader, in his 87th career start, ends his time at MWSU with 954 points. Nelson, in his only year at MWSU, led the Griffons with 481 total points this season.
Davidson led four Hillcats in double figures with 14. Anderson, who hit the game-winner, finished with 13.
Missouri Western shot 22-of-51 (43.1%) from the field and 4-of-18 (22.2%) from three. The Griffons also hit 8-of-12 (66.7%) at the free throw line. MWSU outrebounded RSU 35-26, including 11-6 on the offensive glass. The Griffons committed 14 turnovers, which led to 13 RSU points.
Missouri Western season ends with the most regular season wins since 2002-03. The Griffons also say goodbye to eight seniors in all.
