ST. JOSEPH, Mo. – The Missouri Western men’s basketball team opened the 2015 season with a win over Wayne State College, surviving a second half run by the Wildcats for an 81-75 win.

Missouri Western’s eight-point halftime lead was enough to overcome being outscored by two in the second half. The Griffons got big performances from some newcomers and a returner who stepped up given an opportunity. Wes Mitter scored a career-high 15 points starting for the injured Aaron Emmanuel. The Griffons were led by Trey Sampson’s 18, including 4-11 three-point shooting from the transfer. Mataika Koyamainavure scored 13 and had nine rebounds with Cole Clearman adding 10 points and seven boards.

Missouri Western shot 51 percent from the field, 44 percent from three-point range and 73 percent from the free throw line. The Griffons are 1-0 on the season and will host Upper Iowa tomorrow night at 7:30 p.m. Upper Iowa defeated Northwest Missouri State to open the HIllyard Tip-Off Classic. Northwest will play Wayne State at 5:30 p.m. tomorrow.

— MWSU Athletics —

MARSHALL, Minn. – The Missouri Western women’s basketball team finished a strong opening statement with a 93-61 win at Southwest Minnesota State. The Griffons got a career-high 26 points from Sarafina Handy and 23 from Julia Torres-Alves in her first appearance with Missouri Western.

MWSU outscored the host school 51-24 in the second half, including holding them to eight points in the final quarter. The Griffons scored 41 of those second half points in the final 15 minutes of the game, leading just 52-48 with five minutes left in the third quarter. MWSU shot 55 percent from the field, 44 percent from three-point range and 73 percent from the free throw line. The Griffons won the battle in the paint, scoring 52 points inside to SMSU’s 20.

Torres-Alves led the team with nine rebounds and was 8-13 from the field, including two three’s and all five of her free throws. Miliakere Koyamainavure and Dwanisha Tate each had nine points for Missouri Western. Missouri Western continues play at the SMSU/Applebee’s Classic Saturday at 3 p.m.

— MWSU Athletics —

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Sophie Cunningham (Columbia, Mo.) and Jordan Frericks (Quincy, Ill.) both recorded double-doubles as Mizzou Women’s Basketball (1-0) earned a 71-55 victory at Missouri State (0-1) in the season opener on Friday evening at JQH Arena. Michelle Hudyn (Kitchener, Ontario) added a career-high 13 rebounds in the win.

“I’m really proud of the way our team battled,” head coach Robin Pingeton said. “We felt like the team that won the rebounding battle would win the game. Missouri State is a really good team and it was a great environment tonight.”

Mizzou’s defense limited Missouri State to 31 percent (19-for-61) shooting from the field and 32 percent (7-for-22) from 3-point range. The Tigers outscored the Bears 27-8 in the fourth quarter as MSU closed the game by making one of its last 16 shots from the floor.

The Tigers outrebounded MSU 53-27 and outscored the Bears 15-4 in second-chance points and 28-16 in the paint. For the game, Mizzou shot 44 percent (24-for-54) from the field and 74 percent (17-for-23) from the free throw line. In the second half, the Tigers shot 62 percent (16-for-26) from the floor and 46 percent (5-for-11) from 3-point range.

Sophie Cunningham scored 19 points and pulled down four rebounds in the last two quarters to lead the Tigers back from a 22-21 halftime deficit. Her 3-pointer with 7:42 remaining gave Mizzou a 51-50 lead that would never be relinquished. She finished the game 7-for-11 from the field, 2-for-4 from beyond the arc and 7-for-8 from the foul line. Five of her rebounds came on the offensive end and she also added five assists.

Frericks scored 14 points and grabbed 10 boards. She went 5-for-7 from the floor and 4-for-5 from the free throw line. Frericks scored 12 points and pulled down eight rebounds over the final two quarters.

Lindsey Cunningham (Columbia, Mo.) scored 10 points and was a perfect 3-for-3 from beyond the arc, including a crucial 3-pointer off of a pass from Sierra Michaelis (Mercer, Mo.) with 2:41 remaining to increase the lead to 58-52. Michaelis also finished with 10 points to go along with five assists.

Over the game’s final 7:42, the Tigers outscored MSU 23-5, including an 8-0 run over the final 1:14.

Liza Fruendt led the Bears with 13 points and two steals before fouling out.

Mizzou returns to action on Monday, Nov. 16 with the regular season home opener against Arkansas-Pine Bluff. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. CT at Mizzou Arena.

— Mizzou Athletics —

ST. JOSEPH – A season sweep of longtime Missouri Western volleyball nemesis Central Missouri was not to be as Missouri Western dropped a nail-biter to No. 13 Central Missouri on Senior Night in the MWSU Fieldhouse.

The match featured 35 ties and 16 lead changes with all three sets decided by two points and two going past 25 points. Central Missouri had to get to 26 to defeat Missouri Western in the first and 29 in the third. Missouri Western limited Central Missouri’s opportunities for kills, forcing the Jennies into 21 attack errors as UCM hit .194 on the night. Central Missouri did the same to Missouri Western, with the Griffon shitting .136 with 18 attack errors.

Shellby Taylor led Missouri Western with 10 kills on the night. Blair Russell finished with nine kills. Four Griffons finished with double-digit dig numbers: Kayla Ruff with 19, Audrey Keim with 16, and Jordan Chohon and Amanda Dalbey each had 13. Chohon also led the team with 32 assists.

After the match, Chohon, Jessie Thorup and Lindsey Partridge were honored as part of senior night festivities. Central Missouri allowed Thorup to open the second set with a serve for an ace. The senior’s season was ended last weekend at Fort Hays State due to injury.

The loss dropped Missouri Western to 21-8 overall and 12-5 in the MIAA. The team concludes the 2015 regular season, Saturday at Lindenwood and will await for its MIAA Tournament seeding and location of the first round game.

— MWSU Athletics —

KEARNEY, Neb. – The Missouri Western football team rushed for 387 yards and got career-high games from two running backs in a 34-17 at Nebraska-Kearney that snapped a three-game losing streak for Missouri Western.

It was the team’s first 300 yard rushing game since 2013. Raphael Spencer rushed 31 times for a career-high 251 yards with two touchdowns. The senior also moved over 1,000 rush yards on the season for the third year in a row. Spencer now has 4,106 career rushing yards. Josh Caldwell rushed 19 times for 153 yards and two touchdowns himself, also a career-high. The Griffons could have been well over 400 yards on the ground were it not for 23 yards lost on two sacks of Skyler Windmiller.

On the other side of the ball the Griffon defense held Nebraska-Kearney 25 yards rushing on 28 carries. The defense did give up 254 passing yards to the Lopers and two touchdowns that kept Nebraska-Kearney in the game for several stretches. Yomi Alli came one tackle short of having a fifth-straight double-digit tackling game, finishing with nine tackles in the game. Michael Jordan picked off his fifth pass of the season and had a tackle for loss, playing most of the game at safety for the injured Donte Watkins.

The win moved the Griffons to 5-5 on the season. Missouri Western will host Missouri Southern next Saturday in Senior Day at Spratt Stadium. The game begins at 11 a.m.

— MWSU Athletics —

KEARNEY, Neb. – Without the team’s top offensive weapon, the Missouri Western volleyball team fell in three sets at No. 12 Nebraska-Kearney Saturday night.

Jessie Thorup did not play due to an injury suffered in Friday night’s win at Fort Hays State. The loss dropped Missouri Western to 20-7 on the season and 11-4 in MIAA play. The Griffons will host Northwest Missouri State and nationally ranked Central Missouri next week in the teams’ final two home games of the 2015 regular season.

Down two sets to none and facing game point in the third set, Missouri Western scored three straight points to take a 25-24 lead but UNK scored the next two to take the match in three sets. Missouri Western hit .189 on the night with 18 attack errors and had a 53 sideout percentage. Meanwhile, UNK hit .330 in the match with a 72 percent sideout percentage.

Shellby Taylor led the Griffons with nine kills as she hit .348. Ashley Mainord and Rachel Friedrichs each had eight kills with Friedrichs hitting .500 for the match and adding two blocks. Kayla Ruff’s 16 digs were most on the team and Jordan Chohon paced the Griffons with 34 assists.

Missouri Western will play on Tuesday and Thursday night next week in the fieldhouse, hosting Northwest on the 10th at 7 p.m. and Central Missouri on the 12th at 7 p.m. Nov. 12, the team will honor seniors Jessie Thorup, Jordan Chohon and Lindsey Partridge.

— MWSU Athletics —

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — This time one went Nebraska’s way.

Tommy Armstrong drove Nebraska 91 yards in the final minute, hitting Brandon Reilly with a 30-yard touchdown pass that survived a video review with 17 seconds left to hand Michigan State (No. 7 CFP, No. 6 AP) a 39-38 loss that likely will ruin the Spartans’ playoff hopes.

Armstrong rallied the Cornhuskers from 12 points down in the last 4 1/2 minutes. He scored on a short touchdown with 1:47 left to make it 38-33. After Michigan State (8-1, 4-1 Big Ten, No. 7 CFP) went three-and-out, he led the drive that defines his career so far.

Starting at his own 9, he hit Jordan Westerkamp for passes of 28 and 33 yards. Two plays later, he found Reilly for the winning score. Reilly went out of bounds and came back in to make the catch, but officials ruled it was legal because cornerback Jermaine Edmondson forced him out.

The Spartans got a final chance, but Connor Cook passed out of bounds from the Nebraska 41 as time ran out.

Nebraska’s sideline cleared, a season full of pent-up frustration playing out with players and coaches at midfield dancing as the music blared. The Spartans walked slowly toward their locker room. The Huskers (4-6, 2-4) kept partying on the field.

The win came at the end of a tumultuous week that followed a 55-45 loss at Purdue that gave Nebraska its worst nine-game record since 1960. On Monday, athletic director Shawn Eichorst responded to fan angst by giving first-year coach Mike Riley a vote of confidence. Two days later, Nebraska chancellor Harvey Perlman voiced his support for Riley, who took over this year for Bo Pelini, who never won fewer than nine games in his seven seasons.

The first five of the hard-luck Huskers’ six losses came by a total of 13 points, with the initial one against BYU coming by way of a Hail Mary.

The Huskers played strong throughout against the Spartans, but it didn’t look as if it would be enough. Cook matched his career high with four touchdown passes and Michigan State used a drive that lasted almost 9 minutes of the fourth quarter to go up 12 points.

The Huskers weren’t done.

Riley had a knack for upsetting top-10 opponents over his 14 years at Oregon State, and he said on Thursday that he thought the Huskers had a good chance to beat Michigan State. It was the first time an unranked Nebraska team beat a top-10 opponent at home since 1977.

Imani Cross ran 18 times for 98 yards, and Armstrong completed 19 of 33 passes for 320 yards. He ran for two touchdowns and passed for two.

Cook completed 22 of 35 passes for 318 yards and Holmes ran 20 times for 115 yards. His four TD passes gave him a school-record 68 for his career, two more than Kirk Cousins had from 2008-11.

The Spartans had not been overly sharp in their 8-0 start, and Nebraska put an end to their 12-game win streak in dramatic fashion.

— Associated Press —

COLUMBIA, Mo. – The Missouri Western Men’s Basketball team opened the 2015-2016 season with a 92-53 loss in exhibition play at the University of Missouri.

Missouri Western struggled to get the offense going, shooting 30 percent from the field for the game, 27 percent from three-point range. The Griffons turned the ball over 17 times, nine of them coming in the first nine minutes of the game. Wes Mitter and Currie Byrd led the team with nine points each. Mataika Koyamainavure scored six in his first game as a Griffon. Aaron Emmanuel scored five and led the team with seven rebounds.

On the other side, Mizzou shot 57 percent from the field and 50 percent from behind the arc. K.J. Walton scored 17 for Missouri to lead all scorers. He was one of four Tigers to score double-digits with Tramaine Isabell adding 16, Russell Woods scored 13 and Wes Clark had 10.

The regular season begins for Missouri Western next weekend when the team hosts the 24th Annual Hillyard Tip-Off Classic on Nov. 13-14 at the MWSU Fieldhouse.

— MWSU Athletics —

HAYS, Kan. – The Missouri Western volleyball team battled back from a 2-1 hole to take a five-set victory at Fort Hays on Friday night. After winning the first set, 25-21, Missouri Western dropped the next two but squeaked out a 25-22 win in the fourth to force the deciding set.

Missouri Western won the fifth 15-11 and picked up its 20th win of the season despite hitting .104 as a team and having just 44 kills in five sets. Fort Hays State had 69 kills and hit .179 on the night with 32 attack errors. The Tigers also helped the Griffons’ chances with eight service errors and Missouri Western totaled 14 blocks on the night.

Shellby Taylor led the Griffons with 12 kills and Blair Russell finished with 10. Jordan Chohon had 36 assists and 21 digs. Kayla Ruff led the team with 24 digs. Missouri Western improved to 20-6 with the win and 11-3 in the MIAA. The team travels to Kearney, Nebraska for a showdown with No. 12 Nebraska-Kearney Saturday night at 7 p.m.

— MWSU Athletics —