The Missouri Western men’s basketball team played hard but came up short against the Northern State Wolves 87-78 in the final game of the Sanford Pentagon Showcase. The Griffons had three players finish in double figures with Dareon Jones leading the charge with 18 on 6-of-11 shooting from the field. The Griffons fall to 1-1 with the loss.
The Griffons played well in the first seven minutes of the game scoring twenty points and taking a 20-12 lead after two Ryan Devers free throws with 12:51 to play in the frame. The Griffons used a 14-5 run to build its lead. The Griffons continued to play well building its lead to 10 at 25-15 with 10:39 to play in the half after Kalvin Balque hit two free throws.
Unfortunately the Griffon offense went cold the rest of the half scoring just 11 points to Northern State’s 29. The Griffons went into the half down 44-36. In the half the Griffons shot 38.5-percent (10-26) from the field but shot well from from behind the arc making 5-of-10 and from the free throw line sinking 11-of-13. Adarius Fulton and Cortrez Colbert each had nine points in the half.
The Wolves shot 55.2-percent (16-29) from the field and 66.7-percent (6-9) from long range. They were led by Skye Warwick with 15 points. He got all of his points on three point shots going 5-for-5 in the frame.
In the second half the Wolves extended their lead to 13 a couple different times, but the Griffons kept playing hard making Northern work hard for the win. The Griffons cut the Wolves lead to four going on an 10-2 run which was capped by a Colbert layup with 9:40 to play.
The Wolves extended its lead to eight once again after two Seth Bachand free throws but MWSU used a 8-0 run which was capped by a three point play by Dever cutting the NSU lead to 72-70 with 5:04 to play.
The rest of the way would be all Nortern State as they hit their free throws and some big shots down the stretch. They outscored the Griffons 15-8 the final five minutes picking up the nine point win and evening its record to 1-1 on the season.
The Griffons shot just 40.4-percent (23-57) in the game and 30-percent (6-20) from long range. The made just 1-of-10 three point shots in the second half. They did shoot free throws well making 26-of-31 with Devers and Colbert combining to make 17-19. Devers finished with 17 points and four assists while Colbert scored 16 points with five rebounds and three assists.
The Wolves shot the ball extremely well making 28-of-52 which included 7-of-15 from long range. They also made 24-of-36 free throw attempts. The Wolves were ld by Bachand with 16 points and 10 rebounds while Warick finished with 22 points and Michael Schreiber dumped in 13.
The Griffons return to action on Wednesday, November 13 with a non-conference contest against NAIA opponent Midland University out of Freemont, Neb. Game time is set for 7:00 pm from the MWSU Fieldhouse.
— MWSU Sports Information —