The Missouri men’s basketball team opened their 2005 season with a tremendous thud at home. Mizzou fell to Sam Houston St. 80-77 at Mizzou Arena in the NIT Season Tip-Off TournamentBearkat forward Ryan Bright lit up the Tigers with a game-high 28 pionts. He was 10-of-16 from the field, hitting 6-of-7 three pointers. Bright also pulled down seven rebounds and dished out five assists. Fellow forward, John Gardiner scored 11 points, with 14 rebounds and blocked four Tiger shots.Missouri found itself down 32-27 at the half and even outscored Sam Houston St 50-48 in the second half, but it proved to be too little for MU. Thomas Gardner scored 23 points to lead MU and Marshall Brown chipped in 20. Jimmy McKinney had 12 points.The Tigers were 46.2 percent from the floor and hit 6-of-13 three pointers. They were hampered by turnovers and rebounding on Monday. MU gave the ball away 18 times and was out-rebounded by Sam Houston St. 39-34. It was MU’s first season-opening loss since 1999.
