Robert Corn often speaks of stepping-stone games.

Wednesday night, his men’s basketball team may well have had such a night in Jefferson City.

The Lions dominated the Blue Tigers of Lincoln University for the second time this season. Southern outscored Lincoln 197-130 this season.

“We definitely expect to get back to where we were,” Corn said before Wednesday’s win. “I think every team has a period in their season where they don’t play as well as they do at other times. But what you hope to do is still play well enough to win basketball games. And we weren’t able to do that [against Southwest Baptist and Central Missouri] The thing that we’ve got to do is get back to the hard-nosed toughness play.

We don’t have guys stepping in and taking charge like we normally do, we don’t have guys getting on the floor after loose balls like we normally do. Those are the plays that ignite energy in your basketball team. So we’ve got to get back to that hard-nosed concept that we’ve been known for.”

On Jan. 28, Southern was upset by the Southwest Baptist University Bearcats for its second consecutive loss. The Lions got 22 points from Jason Adams and Marquis Addison each, but gave up 22 turnovers also.

“We’re averaging about 12, 13 turnovers over the course of the season,” Corn said. “Now, all the sudden you’ve taken away 10 possessions that you normally have, and we’re shooting the ball about 50 percent, so you think out of those 10 possessions, you’d score half the time and that makes a significant difference in the outcome of the game.”

In Wednesday’s drumming, the Lions got back to their average numbers, limiting their turnovers to 13.

Four Lions scored in double digits, Adams with 18, Addison with 16, Jordan Talbert contributed 13 and Keane Thomann managed 12. Southern also out-rebounded Lincoln 52-37.

Tomorrow, the Lions will look to get back at the Griffons of Missouri Western State University after they handed Southern its first loss of the season on Dec. 7 in St. Joseph. The Griffons got hot at the right time, beating the then No. 1 nationally ranked Lions by shooting 56 percent, including 60 percent in the first half.