The Northwest Missouri State men’s basketball team fell to Missouri Southern State on Saturday evening in the MIAA Tournament semifinal round at Municipal Auditorium, 70-67. Northwest falls to 22-8 overall while Missouri Southern improves to 23-5 and will advance to play Central Oklahoma in the finals on Sunday.

Dillon Starzl had a team-high 17 points and eight rebounds, going 6-for-11 from the field. DeShaun Cooper scored 16 point on 5-of-11 shooting. Conner Crooker had 11 points to go along with six rebounds. Northwest outrebounded the Lions, 34-27, but committed six more turnovers, 16-10.

Northwest shot 48 percent from the field (24-for-50) and hit 15-of-20 from the charity stripe. The Bearcats also held a 21-9 bench scoring advantage and had 36 points in the paint.

For Missouri Southern, Marquis Addison had a game-high 22 points while Cameron Cornelius had 18.

Northwest will now await NCAA Tournament selection. There will be a selection show watch party on Sunday at 9:30 p.m. at Carson’s Sports Grille in downtown Maryville. The selections will also be available on NCAA.com.

— Northwest Sports Information —