By TOMMY REZAC
St. Joseph Post
The Missouri Western men's basketball team overcame a hot shooting start from Nebraska-Kearney, and the Griffons outscored the Lopers 54-40 in the second half on their way to an 83-78 win at the MWSU Fieldhouse on Thursday.
Nebraska-Kearney (5-22, 3-18 MIAA) shot 55.2 percent from the field in the first half, and jumped out to a 36-23 lead with 3:02 left in the first half. Missouri Western trailed 38-29 at halftime.
The Griffons (12-15, 8-13 MIAA) began chipping away at the deficit early in the second half, and eventually took the lead at 61-59 with 5:53 left to play.
Kearney hung in for a bit longer, but a monster three-pointer by Julius Dixon put Missouri Western up 74-65 with only 1:06 left in the game.
The Griffons got in the bonus fairly early in the second half and took advantage, knocking down 21-of-25 free throw attempts in the win.
"I'm proud of the resiliency and the fortitude," Missouri Western coach Will Martin said. "I'm proud of guys stepping up and making plays. We were hard on the guys for free throws. It's a confidence thing, and we changed our mindset a little bit."
Junior JaRon Thames led four Griffons in double figures with 23 points and 11 rebounds - his second double-double of the season and the fourth of his career.
"We knew we had to get this one today if we want to make the conference tournament," Thames said on his 22nd birthday. "(Kearney) hit shots early, so we knew we had to buckle down and guard and play defense and run the offense. We took our time on offense and got stops in the second half."
Taye Fields also had a double-double Thursday with 15 points and 11 rebounds. Dixon finished with 16 points, while Zion Swader had 14 points on a perfect 8-for-8 effort at the charity stripe.
Darrian Nebeker led Nebraska-Kearney with a game-high 30 points - 21 of that came in the first half. The Lopers made 11 threes and shot 49.2 percent from the field.
The Griffons, meanwhile, shot 52.8 percent on the day, and outscored the Lopers 44-26 in the paint.
Thursday's win was vital for Missouri Western, as they try to take one of the last two spots left in the MIAA tournament field.
The top eight teams in the league have already clinched their spot, while the Griffons, Central Missouri and Northeastern State battle over the ninth and tenth spots.
As of now, Missouri Western sits ninth in the standings. Northeastern State is right behind them in 10th, but a Griffon win over Pittsburg State Saturday would lock Missouri Western into the conference tournament next week in Kansas City.
"I'm not a hopeful person, but I'm a faithful person," Martin said. "I have faith in this team, I have faith in every individual and our story is still being written."
"We have to make a choice," Thames added. "We have to come in, buckle down, guard, make the right reads and play for each other and play for the staff and play for the fans. We have to make a choice and we made a choice in the second half to turn it around and get the win."
Both the Missouri Western men's and women's basketball teams round out the regular season on Saturday when they host Pittsburg State. The women's game tips at 1:30, and the men follow at 3:30.
Both games will be on KFEQ Radio (680, 95.3, 680kfeq.com).
You can follow Tommy on Twitter @TommyKFEQ and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.