The Missouri Western men used a late push to pull away from Rockhurst and close the 20th annual Hillyard Tipoff Classic with a 68-58 victory Saturday night. The Griffons improved to 4-0 on the season and the Hawks fell to 0-2. Western also improved to 35-5 all-time in the Hillyard Classic.

Down two at halftime, Western jumped ahead, 36-35 on a James Harris layup and didn’t surrender the lead for the rest of the game. Rockhurst tied it at 41 and 52, but two TJ Johnson free throws put the Griffons up, 54-52 for good. James Harris made six consecutive free throws to stretch the Griffons’  61-56 lead late in the second half to 67-56.

The Griffons went to halftime down by two, 33-31. The Hawks got out to a fast start, and built a 9-5 lead before Western tied it at 12 with 13:13 to go in the first half. Rockhurst took another five point lead at the 11:08 mark, and Western tied it again at 20 on a TJ Johnson layup.

The Griffons built their largest lead of the first half – five points – on a James Harris three-pointer, one of his three in the first half. The Hawks tied it at 31 on a layup by Najja Nicholson with 1:58 until halftime, then took the lead on two Nicholson free throws.

The Griffons shot 41 percent from the field, 40 percent from three and 75 percent from the charity stripe in the first half. Harris scored all nine of his first half points behind the arc, where he was 3-4 before the break. TJ Johnson led Western with 11 in the first half and Shawn Tarver had five boards in the first half.

Johnson and Harris each finished with 22 points. Harris was 4-7 from behind the arc. Shawn Tarver led the Griffons with 12 rebounds.

The Griffons will head to San Antonio, Texas for the River City Shootout hosted by Saint Mary’s University. Western takes on Southeastern Oklahoma State Friday, Nov. 25 at 5:30 p.m. and face host, St. Mary’s on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.

— MWSU Sports Information —