Alex Oriakhi scored 16 points on 7-of-9 shooting to lead Missouri Basketball to a 72-56 win over the Gent Dragons.  The senior from Lowell, Mass., scored six of the team’s first eight points and hauled in eight rebounds during his top game of this European tour.

Overall Mizzou outscored Gent 40-26 in the paint and the Tigers won the rebounding battle 40-30 to earn their third win of the tour.

“Alex was big tonight and we could kind of see this coming,” Head Coach Frank Haith said. “We were just going to stay positive with him and keep giving him the opportunity to make plays in the low-block. Alex was getting good position, but he was so anxious once he caught the basketball. Tonight he was assertive and really attacked the rim.”

Keion Bell was in for 27 minutes, scoring 12 points, grabbing eight boards, four assists and three steals, helping to force Gent players into 20 turnovers.

Overall Oriakhi led five Tigers in double figures with 16. Bell added 15 and Jabari Brown chipped in 14.

“We were tired tonight, I could see that, but when you have guys fight through it and play with energy early, it becomes contagious,” Haith said. “We travel to Paris tomorrow and have a couple of days off to get our legs back, but I have seen this team improve game-to-game.”

Missouri will leave Belgium tomorrow morning and travel nearly four hours by bus to Paris. The team returns to action on Aug. 17 vs. Cergy. Game time is currently scheduled for 7 p.m.