From Trevor Berneking www.gogriffons.com
Missouri Western fought hard in the River City against the 21st ranked Central Oklahoma Bronchos, but came up short
77-71 in its first game of the classic. Lonnel Johnson and Gus Moss both had career highs for the Griffons as they had 27 and 20 points respectively in the contest. The Griffons fall to 5-2 with the loss while the Bronchos improve to 9-2 with the victory.
In the first half the lead changed hands six times. The Griffons jumped out to an early 10-4 lead when Lonnel Johnson hit a three point shot with 15:44 left in the half. From there the Bronchos would go on a 7-0 run to take the lead 11-10 with 13:41 left on the clock. The rest of the half the two teams used defense and runs to keep the game from getting out of hand either way. The Bronchos would close the half going on an
11-6 run in the final 6:07 of the period to take the lead 33-32 into the break.
Lonnel Johnson led the way as he scored 12 first half points on 3-of-9 shooting. He did go 4-of-4 from the line. Keion Kindred had 8 boards for the Griffons. Both team shot identical from the field as they shot 37.9-percent (11-of-29) in the half. The difference was Central Oklahoma made five more free throws then Missouri Western in the half.