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Lions Take Charge in OT To Outlast Scrappy EaglesBy WENDELL REDDEN Sports Editor Missouri Southern’s turnover-plagued Lions took command on the opening tip in overtime and hung on to defeat stubborn John Brown University 75-72 in the basketball season opener Tuesday night in Robert Ellis Young Gymnasium.Danny Sawyer, the Lions’ rubber-legged 6-foot-3 junior forward, tapped the overtime tip to Ira Foster who fed Carl Tyler for a layup. Two free throws by Foster, the leading scorer with 17 points, extended the lead to four points and the Lions made it stand up.“It’s good to get that one out of the way,” Southern Coach Chuck Williams said.“We were much too anxious at the start of the game. We wanted to get the job done, but we tried to do it with emotion instead of solid play. That’s somewhat to be expected in the opener, though.”There were some bright spots for the Lions who handed the Golden Eagles of Jeff Simons their second loss in three outings. Foster and Randy Kriewall came off the bench to contribute 22 points and eight rebounds.John Brown, which trailed 30-28 at halftime, fell behind 48-37 with 11:15 to go in regulation playing time before senior guard Terry Dunham, rugged Carl Smith, 6-8 sophomore Bill Presnell and freshman Jay Mit-chael brought the Eagles back.Dunham, who tied Smith and Foster for scoring honors with 17 points, had nine points in the second half while Smith and Mitchael added eight apiece and Presnell had six.Two free throws by Dunham and Smith’s fielder at 1:20 pulled the Arkansas squad within a point, 60-59.Smith, who teamed with Steve Mitchael for 17 of JBU’s 35 rebounds, fouled out with 1:13 left and sent Foster to the line. The Springfield Central product converted one of two charity tries for a 61-59 lead. Dunham tied the score at 61-all with 51 seconds left as the Lions’ Willie Rogers was whistled for goal-tending.Southern turned the ball over with 30 seconds left, but the Eagles were not able to get off a good shot before the buzzer.That was a bright spot,” Williams said later. “We played good defense during those final seconds of regulation time.” Rogers, who led Southern with six rebounds, had three in overtime, two of them in the first two minutes of play.After Dunham’s 15-footer pulled JBU to 65-63, Sawyer hit a field goal and two charities for a 69-63 Southern lead, and four charities by Tyler, the last two coming with 0:32 on the clock, extended the advantage to 73-66.Despite six points by Dunham down the stretch, the Lions secured the decision on a pair of free throws by Sawyer with four seconds remaining.Neither team snot well in the ragged contest. John Brown connected on 27 of 61 casts for 44 percent while Southern hit 24 of 59 for 40 percent. JBU held a 35-30 advantage on the boards. Steve Mitchael paced the Eagles with eight recoveries In addition to Foster’s 17 tallies, Tyler scored 14, Sawyer 13 and Virgil Parker 10 for theLions. Parker also had five assists. Sawyer and Tyler each scored six points in overtime.Aiding Smith and Dunham in JBU’s attack were Jay Mitchael and Presnell with 11 points apiece and Steve Mitchael withSouthern turned the ball over 20 times as opposed to 13 by the Eagles.“The early mistakes hurt,” Williams said. “When we continued to make errors, we got mentally down on ourselves. But despite being mentally down, we were able to come back when we had to. And that’s a positive sign.”The first half was tied eight times before Jim Waid’s steal and layup at 1:10 gave Southern a 30-28 edge at the intermission. The biggest lead either team enjoyed was 21-16 by Southern with 7:18 to play.Parker, popping from long range over JBU’s 1-2-2 zone, led the Lions during the first 20 minutes with eight points. Smith had nine points and Stve Mitchael eight for the Eagles.Both teams were plagued by fouls. John Brown was whistled 30 times, Southern 27. Smith and Jay Mitchael fouled out for the visitors while center Brian Peltier exited with his fifth personal with 2:10 to play in regulation time.“I know we can play better,” Williams stressed. “We’ve got to take a positive attitude into practice and try to prepare for Evangel.”Southern will play host to Evangel College of Springfield in an NAIA District 16 game at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.Boxscore undor ScoreboardMISSOURI SOUTHERN'S CARL TYLER LOSES HIS BALANCE rWo/Gsic sandcrs. . .during first-half battle under the boards
Newspaper Details
Joplin Globe
Joplin, Missouri, US
Wed, Nov 17, 1982
Page 5
Full Page
Clipped by
Joplin P.
MO, USA 25 Feb 2024
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