Led by a career-high 33 points from Caleb Grill Mizzou Men’s Basketball pulled away from Eastern Washington for an 84-77 win on Monday night. With the win, the Tigers improve to 2-1 on the season and 2-0 in Mizzou Arena.
MIZZOU LEADERS
Two Tigers scored in double figures to lead Mizzou to victory. In addition to his career-high 33 points, Grill tied a Mizzou Arena record with eight made three-pointers and a game-best nine rebounds. Junior Mark Mitchell (Kansas City, Kan.) added 13 points.
GAME RECAP
The Tigers responded to an early run by the Eagles and after taking the lead six minutes into the game, they never gave it back.
Eastern Washington jumped out to an early 12-4 advantage only for Mizzou to respond with an 11-0 run, highlighted by a Caleb Grill fastbreak dunk and a Mark Mitchell layup. Grill tallied seven of the team’s 11 points during the stretch as the Tigers took a 15-12 advantage.
The Tigers then took advantage of their ability to draw fouls, attempting the first 12 free throws of the game to build a comfortable lead. Another 6-0 run by Mizzou stretched the advantage to 15 and forced Eastern Washington to call its first timeout. Grill led Mizzou with 16 points and four threes in the opening 20 minutes of action, giving them a 45-33 advantage heading into the locker room. Mitchell also reached double figures with 10 first-half points.
Eastern Washington cut the deficit to seven, before six quick points by Grill and Jacob Crews extended the lead back to 13, leading to an Eastern Washington timeout. The Eagles responded and cut Mizzou’s lead down to two before Grill responded with five straight points. He sealed the victory with 1:17 remaining, sinking his eighth three-pointer en route to the 84-77 win.
TEAM STATS
Mizzou shot 54.2 percent in the winning effort with a 10-of-18 clip (55.6 percent) from 3-point range. The Tigers also held the Eagles to 51.8 percent from the field with a 9-of-25 mark from 3-point range.
UP NEXT
The Tigers look to extend their winning streak to three, hosting Mississippi Valley State on Thursday night. Tipoff at Mizzou Arena is set for 6:30 p.m.
Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. is a finalist for the American League MVP Award. Witt led the Majors with a .332 batting average to go with 32 home runs and 31 steals. Aaron Judge is a finalist, so is Yankees teammate Juan Soto. Judge will most likely win.
Here’s my argument. The Yankees could have had Judge or Soto out of their lineup and still made the playoffs. KC without Witt playing in 161 games, don’t reach the postseason for the first time in nine years. That’s a true MVP beyond the stats, but it’s the Yankees, Witt won’t win.
Seth Lugo is a finalist for the AL Cy Young Award. He went 16-and-9 with a 3.00 ERA through 33 starts. Matt Quatraro is a finalist for the AL Manager of the Year Award. Quatraro oversaw a 30-win difference from year 1 to 2.