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Author: Dave Riggert

Mizzou falls at home to Ole Miss for seventh straight loss

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riggertMizzouCOLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — Leading by two points with 9:37 remaining in the first half at Missouri on Saturday, Mississippi’s Anthony Perez launched a 3-point attempt that bounced high off the back rim only to be palmed by teammate Stefan Moody in midair.

The 5-foot-10-inch junior dunked it with his right hand before landing on his feet and flexing his arms in front of the Tigers’ student section.

“I think that not only invigorated him but our whole team,” coach Andy Kennedy said after the Rebels won 67-47. “We see that quite often. He is a special player off the bounce.”

Ole Miss (14-7, 5-3 SEC) outscored the Tigers 50-32 the rest of the way, including runs of 8-0 and 7-0 in the first half to build a 37-25 lead at the break. The Rebels led by at least nine points throughout the closing 20 minutes.

Moody finished as the only Mississippi player in double figures with 23 points, while Perez and M.J. Rhett each added eight. Martavious Newby grabbed nine rebounds.

Johnathan Williams III scored 14 points for Missouri (7-14, 1-7), which lost its seventh consecutive game for the first time since 1993. The Tigers, who lost 69-53 to No. 1 Kentucky about 40 hours before Saturday’s tipoff, shot just 19 of 61 (31.1 percent) from the field.

“We missed a lot of open shots early that I thought we had, and then it kind of snowballed,” Missouri coach Kim Anderson said. “I’m disappointed in the effort, and that’s probably one of the few times I’ve said that this year.”

Mississippi ranks first in the country with a 79.9 percent conversion rate from the free-throw line, and finished 13 of 15 as a team. Moody leads the SEC at a 90.7 percent clip and made all 10 of his attempts.

“I came out a lot more calm, and then I got the tip-slam and I just kind of went off of that,” Moody said.

Missouri trailed by at least 10 points for all but 73 seconds in the final 25:50 after Anderson said Thursday that his team had been playing better despite its record. There were few bright spots Saturday, though.

Wes Clark scored eight points after netting a career-high 19 against the Wildcats while Williams grabbed seven rebounds. Anderson suspended freshman Tramaine Isabell for the game because of “unacceptable” behavior toward his coaches and teammates.

When asked how to stop the team’s losing streak, Williams despondently said, “Don’t put your head down. That’s about it.”

The game seemed to be a sideshow at times for Missouri, which recognized football coach Gary Pinkel and his team for its Citrus Bowl win against Minnesota on New Year’s Day. Clapping and snapping pictures in the audience was heralded recruit Terry Beckner Jr., who was on an official visit to the school.

The defensive tackle from East St. Louis, Illinois, toured Ohio State last weekend and Auburn the week before, along with Florida State in November. Students showered him with praise as he walked to his seat pregame, holding up signs and T-shirts with Beckner’s name on them.

Beckner Jr. is expected to announce what school he will attend on National Signing Day on Wednesday.

TIP-INS

Mississippi: The Rebels shot 24 of 55 (43.6 percent) from the field.

Missouri: A layup by Williams narrowed the Tigers’ deficit to 48-39 with 9:39 remaining, but they watched Ole Miss gradually extend its lead to as many as 24 points the rest of the way. . The Tigers finished 3 of 10 from the free-throw line.

QUOTE OF THE NIGHT

“I think for us to win, we have to have energy and passion and toughness,” Anderson said. “I thought Ole Miss was probably tougher than we were. That’s disappointing as a coach. But you know what? You still go out there and try to coach them next week.”

UP NEXT

Mississippi returns home to face Texas A&M on Wednesday.

Missouri plays at Alabama on Wednesday.

— Associated Press —

Missouri Western women snap road losing streak with 87-59 win at Lindenwood

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MWSUST. CHARLES, MO — Two days removed form their most disappointing loss of the season, the Missouri Western women’s basketball team answered with their most complete performance of the season.

The Griffons snapped a 17-game road losing streak with a dominating 87-59 victory at Lindenwood University on Saturday to even their record to 9-9 overall and 4-8 in MIAA conference play.

Five Griffons scored in double figures, led by LaQuintta Jefferson, who posted 21 of her game-high 23 points in the second half.  Jefferson was a perfect 9-9 from the field.  Mhykeah Baez chipped in a career-high 15 points,  while Sarafina Handy (14 points) Mili Koyamainavure (12 points) and Arianna Novak (10) also had hot hands for Western.

The Griffons, who led 38-31 at halftime, used a 26-4 run midway through the 2nd half to put the game  away.  They shot 67.9% in the 2nd half and 58.9% for the game.

The win comes two days after a 76-72 loss at Lincoln that saw the Griffons surrender a 13 point lead in the game’s final eight minutes.

The victory marks Missouri Western’s first true road win since November 23rd, 2013 at Rockhurst.

Missouri Western returns to action Wednesday when they host Northwest Missouri State at 5:30 pm.

— MWSU Sports Information —

Northwest women rally but fall short against the Blue Tigers

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Northwest2013riggertThe Northwest Missouri State women’s basketball team rallied late but ended up just short, losing to Lincoln, 66-56, Saturday afternoon in Jefferson City.

After trailing by as many as 16 points midway through the second half, the Bearcats put together a 25-11 run over a stretch of 11 minutes to close the gap to two with 2:48 to play.

Ariel Easton led the Bearcats with 19 points and six rebounds, while freshman Tanya Meyer scored 15 points in the contest, all of which came in the final 13 minutes of play.

The Bearcats found themselves behind by 16 when Kelsey Williams hit a short range jumper for the Blue Tigers. After Coach Michael Smith called a timeout to rally the troops, Tanya Meyer went on a shooting spree. Morgan Walker found Meyer underneath for an easy layup. Meyer then hit an 18-footer from the top of the key two possessions later. Alexandria Blaurock made a layup and the ensuing free throw to close the gap to 47-36. Meyer then scored the next six points for the Bearcats, seemingly scoring at will in the paint. Ariel Easton drove to the rim and hit contested layups on the next two Bearcat possessions to make the score 50-46 with five minutes to play. A three-pointer from the corner by Tember Schechinger decresed the deficit to two, but the Blue Tigers hit 7-of-10 free throws down the strech to seal the victory.

The Bearcats will look to return to the victory column when they head to St. Joseph, Mo. on Wednesday to play the Griffons of Missouri Western. The women’s game is scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m.

— Northwest Sports Information —

No. 25 Benedictine women defeat Avila to stay in first place

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BCThe No. 25 Benedictine women’s basketball team overcame a three-point halftime deficit on Saturday afternoon to win their 10th game of the Heart of America Athletic Conference season as they earned a 69-63 win over Avila University.

Benedictine (17-6, 10-1 Heart) connected on 41.1 percent from the floor in the second half to outscore Avila (8-10, 3-8 Heart) 35-36.

The Ravens led by as much as nine points midway through the first half before the Eagles went on a 11-2 run to pull even at 24 points with just under six minutes left in the half.

The lead changed hands four times in the final four minutes of the half before Avila pulled ahead to take a 37-34 lead into halftime.

In the second half neither team was able to pull away.

Benedictine led by as much as seven points while Avila was able to lead by as much as six points.

After the seventh tie of the game at 56 points, Kristen Murphy connected on a field goal in the paint from Kaitlyn Mercer to give Benedictine a 58-57 lead.

The Ravens led the rest of the game as Mercer scored four of her eight points down the stretch to help keep Benedictine in front.

Jackie Ziesel led the Ravens with 14 points while Murphy finished with 13 points off the bench as Benedictine finished with a 32-8 advantage in bench scoring.

Benedictine converted 80 percent from the charity stripe, which included a 9 of 11 effort in the second half.

The Ravens are off Thursday before hitting the road for a 2 p.m. game on Saturday in Fayette, Mo., against Central Methodist University.

— BC Sports Information —

No. 9 Kansas beats Kansas State for 49th time in last 53 games

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riggertKULAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Getting off to a sensational start is only half the battle. Bill Self hopes No. 9 Kansas learned that lesson while beating Kansas State 68-57 on Saturday and holding the Wildcats to one of their most miserable halfs ever.

“If somebody’s going to shoot 17 percent against you, you would think we could take advantage of it more than we did,” the Kansas coach said. “I didn’t think we did a good job of taking advantage of them shooting a low percentage.”

Kansas led only 33-17 at halftime.

“The second half, we certainly didn’t guard them near as well,” Self said.

The Jayhawks (18-3, 7-1), protecting their first-place standing in the Big 12 race, held Kansas State to 6-for-35 shooting in the opening half. That tied for fourth-worst ever in a first half for the Wildcats.

“We guarded pretty well the first half. We challenged everything,” Self said.

Perry Ellis had a double-double in the first half and wound up with 16 points and 12 rebounds to help the Jayhawks beat their state rival for the 49th time in the last 53 games. Since the inception of the Big 12 Conference in 1996, Kansas is 41-4 against the Wildcats (12-10, 5-4).

“I was very disappointed in our competitive spirit, especially on the defensive end at the beginning of the game,” Kansas State coach Bruce Weber said. “We talked at halftime that Oklahoma was down by 20 at halftime and they came back.”

Kansas, ahead by one game in the Big 12 coming into the game, got 14 points from Wayne Selden and 10 from Frank Mason.

Thomas Gipson had had 19 points and seven rebounds and Marcus Foster scored 19 points for Kansas State. In the first 20 minutes, The Jayhawks made nine of their first 14 shots, including back-to-back 3-pointers by Brannen Greene and Mason during a 14-1 spree. Kelly Oubre sneaked under the basket for a layup off an inbounds pass that made it 18-5 and then Cliff Alexander rebounded one of the 29 shots Kansas State missed in the first half and Ellis finished off the run with layup.

“It was a great start,” Ellis said. “We just have to learn how we can keep playing with that intensity. We let up and we can’t do that. That’s what we really need to learn. We did a great job in the first half.”

Stephen Hurt came off the bench and hit two quick 3-pointers in the final minute for Kansas State, making the final margin more respectable.

Gipson’s basket shrank the lead to 58-46, but Selden’s one-handed follow shot and Mason’s gliding layup put the Jayhawks back on top 62-46 before Marcus Foster drained a 3-pointer for the Wildcats at the 4:37 mark.

A few minutes earlier, Wesley Iwundu, Kansas State’s promising 6-7 sophomore, hit back-to-back baskets to cut the lead to 47-34 but then was whistled for his third foul.

TIP-INS

Kansas State: The Wildcats improved considerably in the second half except at the foul line, hitting only 7 of 13. They never got closer than 11 points after their cold first half. … In three games as Kansas State coach, Weber has lost in Allen Fieldhouse by 21, 26 and 11 points.

Kansas: Self is 24-4 against Kansas State. After getting outrebounded by 10 in their previous games, the Jayhawks worked hard on the boards during practice and grabbed 42 rebounds to K-State’s 37. Kansas State is beginning a stretch of five road games in the next seven outings.

STAT LINES

Greene was 3 for 4 from 3-point range and is drawing high praise for his long touch. Selden blocked four shots, one reason Kansas State had so much trouble on offense.

UP NEXT

Kansas: Hosts No. 15 Iowa State on Monday night.

Kansas State: Plays at Texas Tech on Wednesday night.

— Associated Press —

Missouri Western splits season opening doubleheader at No. 17 Arkansas Tech

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riggertMissouriWesternRUSSELVILLE, Ark. – The Missouri Western baseball team opened its 2015 season on Friday and split a doubleheader at No. 17 Arkansas Tech. ATU took the first game 5-4 and the Griffons won 9-6 after a six run seventh inning in the second game.

GAME 1: MWSU 4, Arkansas Tech 5 (10 innings)

Errors hurt Missouri Western in a 10 inning loss at No. 17 Arkansas Tech in the first game of a four-game series Friday afternoon.

Bryan Heward scored the winning run on a throwing error by Josh Lansangan. Heward singled with no one out and one on, then reached second on an error earlier in the inning. Seth Wheeler’s bunt single sent Heward to third and the throwing error put him across the plate. Leading 4-3 heading to the bottom half of the 10th, MWSU committed two errors, had a wild pitch and walked one batter to help the Arkansas Tech effort.

Missouri Western jumped out to a 3-0 lead on David Glaude’s two-out, two-run home in the third. The Wonder Boys added two in the fifth and one in the eighth to tie the game at three. Missouri Western wouldn’t score again until Michael Yeager’s bunt single with the bases loaded and two out in the top of the 10th gave MWSU the 4-3 lead.

Lansangan took the loss allowing one hit and recoding no outs. Grant Woods pitched 5.1 innings, allowing six hits and two runs, while striking out two. Trevor LaHonta and Brandon Downs both went 2-5 with Glaude recording two RBI.

GAME 2: MWSU 9, Arkansas Tech 6 (7 innings)

The Griffons Ryan Degner blasted a home run in the first inning to put MWSU up 1-0. Arkansas Tech answered right back with a home run themselves to even the score at 1-1 heading into the second.

Both teams were held scoreless in the second and third inning before Arkansas Tech was able to string together four runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to move the score to 5-1. The Griffons contributed two crucial errors to allow four unearned runs.

MWSU was able to get two runs in the top of the 5th inning when Cosimo Cannella doubled to left center to bring in both Orencio Fisher and Cody Childs. Arkansas Tech added one more run in the bottom of the sixth to bring the score to 6-3.

The Griffon bats came alive in the top of the seventh inning in a huge way. MWSU was able to collect six runs in the inning after getting six hits. Missouri Western held the lead in the bottom half of the seventh to finish the game 9-6.

Cosimo Cannella finished the game with three hits and four RBI’s. The Griffons Cody Childs went 2-3 and tallied two RBI’s in the victory. AJ Martinez got the win for the Griffons and Richard Peoples recorded his first save of the year.

Missouri Western will be back in action Saturday at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. to play another double-header against #17 Arkansas Tech.

— MWSU Sports Information —

Griffons overcome 15-point second half deficit to defeat Lincoln in OT

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riggertMissouriWesternJEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – For the third straight time on the road in MIAA play, the Missouri Western men’s basketball team overcame a double-digit second half deficit to win with a 79-72 victory at Lincoln Thursday night. Not only was it the Griffons third straight come from behind win on the road, but it’s the first time since 2003 the Griffons have won three straight over MIAA opponents on the road.

Missouri Western nearly pulled off the comeback in regulation but Lincoln forced overtime on a Joshua Buie layup with just two seconds left in the game. Missouri Western took their first lead since 10 minutes into the game on Dareon Jones’ layup with 27 seconds left in regulation. Jones’ go-ahead bucket capped a 26-12 run that erased a 15-point Lincoln lead with 9:31 to go. Jones had 11 in that run including a three to pull the team within one. Jones finished with a career-high 20 points to lead the team along with Cortrez Colbert.

The Griffons controlled the overtime period, jumping out to a nine point lead with a 9-2 run to open the extra frame. The win moved MWSU to 9-9 on the season, 5-6 in the MIAA, and handed Lincoln their 10th straight loss.

Kevin Thomas scored 12 with eight rebounds to lead the team on the glass with Colbert’s eight. Aaron Emmanuel finished with 10 points and six rebounds. Jones added seven rebounds. The Griffons finished 42 percent from the field. After having 11 turnovers in the first half, MWSU finished with 15 for the game.

If Missouri Western is to extend its recent success on the road, they’ll have to do it against one of the MIAA’s top teams when they travel to St. Charles Saturday to take on Lindenwood.

— MWSU Sports Information —

No. 7 Ravens rally past Peru for 10th consecutive win

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BCPERU, Neb. – After trailing at the half, the No. 7-ranked Benedictine men’s basketball team scored 38 second-half points en route to a come-from-behind win over Peru State College on Thursday to split the regular-season match up with the Bobcats.

Leading by two points with five seconds remaining, John Harris Jr., went to the line for Benedictine (19-3, 8-2 Heart) and converted two free throws to push the Ravens ahead of Peru State (12-9, 5-5 Heart) by four points – which proved to be the final margin as a last-second attempt by the Bobcats fell short handing Benedictine the 63-59 win.

The difference in the first half proved to come at the free throw line as neither team was able to pull ahead by more than two possessions.

The first half alone played through five ties and seven lead changes before Peru State took a 26-25 lead into halftime.

The Bobcats went 6 of 6 at the charity stripe in the first half while the Ravens connected on 4 of 6.

Benedictine held Peru State scoreless for nearly four minutes to start the second half, which allowed the Ravens to erase their halftime deficit and push ahead by six points, 34-28.

The Ravens continued push their lead, eventually pulling ahead by 10 points on three occasions before the Bobcats used a 7-0 run to pull within three points with just under eight minutes left in the game.

After back-to-back baskets from Connor Fleming and Brett Fisher, the Ravens pushed their lead back to eight points only to have Peru State answer to pull back within a possession setting up a tightly-contested stretch run for both teams.

Jallen Messersmith led the Ravens with 20 points, setting a new career high by five points. Fleming finished with 10 points while Jonathan Anaekwe added 10 points.

Benedictine hosts Avila University at 4 p.m. Saturday inside the Ralph Nolan Gymnasium. The Ravens took the first meeting over the Eagles in Kansas City, Mo., back on Dec. 6, 59-52.

— BC Sports Information —

Missouri falls at home to No. 1 Kentucky 69-53

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riggertMizzouCOLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — The way his team rolled over Missouri when they met a couple of weeks ago, Kentucky coach John Calipari anticipated the Tigers throwing a few haymakers in the rematch.

They wound up playing so physical that three Tigers fouled out.

The top-ranked Wildcats took advantage of their parade to the foul line, racking up free points during a decisive second-half run that gave them a 69-53 victory Thursday night.

“It’s going to be like you saw today. We just have to play through the physical play,” said Calipari, whose team waxed the Tigers by 49 points on Jan. 13. “You don’t beat somebody like we did there and — they came back and played like I would have expected them to play.”

In other words, a whole lot better. But still not good enough.

Andrew Harrison had 15 points and twin brother Aaron Harrison had 11 for the Wildcats, who improved to 20-0 for the third time in school history. They are just five wins away from matching the record start achieved by Adolph Rupp’s team in 1953-54.

As usual, Kentucky (7-0 SEC) won with defense. Missouri turned the ball over 15 times and shot just 38 percent from the field in the second half, when the game was largely decided.

“We beat them pretty bad last time,” Andrew Harrison said, “but we know they’re a better team than they played at Rupp (Arena), so we had to come in and play as hard as we could.”

Wes Clark scored 19 points for the Tigers (7-13, 1-6), who have lost six straight for the first time since 2006. Johnathan Williams III added 10 points and five rebounds.

Five players fouled out in the mucky game, resulting in a combined 57 free throws.

“I’m not happy losing, but we played a lot better,” Tigers coach Kim Anderson said. “All I can ask is these guys keep fighting, and that’s what they do, that’s what they’ve done. And it’s not always pretty, but they didn’t quit. They kept fighting.”

The Tigers looked game for most of the first half Thursday night.

Milking the clock with crisp ball movement, Missouri was able to crack Kentucky’s long and lean front line for easy baskets. Keanau Post started it with a rim-rattling dunk a few minutes in, and a pair of dunks by Ryan Rosburg had the fans in Mizzou Arena on their feet. Another dunk by Jakeenan Gant late in the half allowed the Tigers to close within 32-25.

The Wildcats struggled some more early in the second half, throwing up a series of ugly jumpers and missing a couple of shots at the rim. Missouri struggled to take advantage but did close within 38-32 on Clark’s basket with 14:25 to go.

Foul trouble began to set in, though, with Namon Wright and Montaque Gill-Caesar each picking up a fourth with more than 15 minutes left in the game. The Wildcats, with more quality depth, were able to capitalize on their absences and put together a 10-2 run to gain control.

The Harrison twins led the way. Aaron knocked down a jumper, and after Andrew did the same, he proceeded to the foul line on the next four trips down the floor.

Wright fouled out with 8:52 to go. Gill-Caesar joined him less than a minute later. And by the time the Wildcats had hit those free throws, their lead had swelled to 56-36.

The Wildcats cruised from there, running their overall record against Missouri to 8-0.

“We lost by 50 there; we only lost by 16 tonight,” Clark said, shaking his head. “Better effort, but we still got beat.”

THROWBACK GAME

Kentucky hit only two 3-pointers, one each from Aaron Harrison and Dominique Hawkins. The Tigers hit only four from the arc, three of those from Clark. The majority of the game was played in the paint, where the teams combined for 48 points.

BLOCK PARTY

The Wildcats were tops nationally with 155 blocks coming in. Karl-Anthony Towns had the only swat for the smaller Tigers on Thursday night.

TIP-INS

Kentucky: Devin Booker had nine points against father Melvin’s alma mater. He was booed every time he touched the ball. … Towns and Marcus Lee fouled out for the Wildcats.

Missouri: Post also fouled out for the Tigers. … Missouri fell to 4-18 against No. 1-ranked teams. Its last victory came against former rival Kansas in 1997.

UP NEXT

Kentucky: Returns to Rupp Arena to face Alabama on Saturday.

Missouri: Wraps a three-game homestand against Ole Miss on Saturday.

— Associated Press —

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