Missouri Southern dug itself into a big hole in the first half of its opening game in the MIAA Men’s Basketball Championships.The Lions almost dug themselves out. Almost.After trading buckets to open the game, Central went on a 7-0 run and never looked back.At the end of the first half, the Lions managed a 5-0 run on a try and last-second jumper by junior guard Mariun Price to pull the Lions within four at 36-32 going into the intermission.Three points was the closest the Lions could get in the first half with Central’s lead growing to as many as 9 pts. with 7:18 to go in the half.Southern narroed the first half gap to 14-11 on a DaRell Crittendon three-pointer, but the Mules’ Joe Young answered with a trey of his own to put UCM up by six at 17-11.The Lions cut the lead down to three again at 30-27 with 4:10 remaining, but the Mules answered the call with a bucket of their own on the ensuing possession with aggressive offensive rebounding.UCM built the lead to nine again at 36-27 with a minute remaining, but Price took over to close out first-half scoring.Price led Lion scorers with 7 first-half points. Matt Monroe and Vincent Ateba each had six points in the half.De’Andre Byrd led the Mules with 8 pts.