The Missouri Southern Lions continue their quest to claim a post-season MIAA Tournament berth as they take to the road for a Saturday match up with the Truman State Bulldogs.

The Lions (7-10, 2-6) hope to keep away from the same mistakes they made in the teams’ first meeting on Dec. 9, when Truman took the victory 70-53.

“I think Truman is a balanced basketball team,” Head Coach Robert Corn said. “Austin Kirby has played a lot of minutes for them, Nick Certa is a guy who is very good as well, while Andy Calmes was a first-team all-league player last year, so they have several guys who can present some problems.”

The first meeting saw Truman (11-6, 5-3) go on a 27-3 run to close the first half and also featured a 15-point first-half effort from Certa. In the second half, the Bulldogs led by 25 points at one point, which didn’t help the team’s confidence.

“Truman is a team that stays within itself,” Corn said. “They don’t try to do things they are not capable of doing, and if you can do something to try to keep them out of their comfort zone, it will certainly play to your advantage. When we played them here, we offensively didn’t do anything to keep them out of their comfort zone, and they got comfortable and handed it to us pretty good.”

As long as the Lions remain true to the basic fundamentals, they may help their chances at getting into the MIAA Tournament in March.

“Our Achilles heel has been turnovers,” Corn said. “Truman doesn’t get out and play aggressively, so there is no reason why we should have any turnovers. Also, we’ve got to rebound. We can’t afford to give teams second or third shot opportunities because many teams have been capitalizing on them against us.”

The Lions traveled to Bolivar Monday night where a 22-point effort from Deonte Cox and a 13-point effort from Stanley Titsworth helped to provide life for the Lions in the first half of the 84-77 loss to Southwest Baptist. The Bearcats (10-7, 4-4) were down by 7 at halftime, but returned to deliver a 42-22 run in the second half and never relinquished the lead.

“We played 30 minutes of really good basketball which was good enough to win the game,” Corn said. “The thing that hurts us were their conversion of our turnovers, and their second-chance opportunities.

The Lions take to the road to play Washburn Feb. 1 and Ft. Hays State Feb 3 before returning home to host Emporia State on Feb. 7.