After building a 20-point halftime lead, the Missouri Southern men withstood a second-half comeback to improve their season record to 11-4 (4-3 MIAA).

Coming into Wednesday night’s game, the Lions were in a three-way tie for fifth place in the MIAA with Northwest Missouri State University and Missouri Western State College. The Lions were put into that position by a tough 90-85 overtime loss at home to Emporia State University on Jan. 18.

But Southern bounced back in a big way with a confidence-building win against Missouri Western. The athleticism of Western and its up-tempo style of play was a topic of consideration before Wednesday’s game. The Lions showed they were not only up to the challenge, but they welcomed the fast past of the game with open arms.

“We like to practice fast, and we like to play like we practice,” said Darrell Redmond, junior forward.

The game opened up with the Lions scoring on their first five possessions of the game and smothering the Western Griffons on the defensive end of the court. The aggressive opening of the game for Southern was almost a complete turnaround from the loss to Emporia.

“We came out a little slow Saturday,” said Ameer Watts, junior guard. “We wanted to make a statement after losing at home and play like we know we can.”

Behind a strong team effort on defense and the post play of Redmond and senior forward Jamahr Warren, the Lions went into halftime leading 50-30.

The second half proved to be a little scary for the Lions. Despite Southern’s continuing high level of play, the Griffons mounted a second-half comeback. Lion’s head coach Robert Corn attributed Western’s comeback to better execution and shooting on Western’s part.

“With a shot clock and a three-point line, no lead is safe against a quality team in this league,” Corn said. “And Western is definitely a quality team.”

The Lions’ 20-point lead slowly dwindled over the second half, but Southern held the lead due to leadership by Watts and Warren.

Corn said the team showed great heart in holding off Western’s push late in the game and will benefit in the future because of it.

“What we saw tonight is common for this league,” Corn said. “We reacted very well tonight. We bent but didn’t break.”

The team is optimistic about the rest of the season and is looking forward to showing what kind of team it really is.

“We are going to take what we did tonight and carry it on to Saturday’s game and the rest of the season,” Redmond said.

The Lions do not plan on changing their game plan at all for Saturday night’s game at Truman State. Corn said Truman State is not the same type of team as Western.

“Truman State is not as athletic as Western, but they are good at executing their offense,” Corn said. “It will probably be another dogfight for us.”