COLUMBIA, Mo. — The Missouri Tigers continued to roll through their non-conference slate Wednesday, defeating the Lindenwood Golden Lions 81-61 for a sixth-straight victory.
By virtue of self-inflicted wounds from Missouri, most of the first half was a back-and-forth contest. No team held a lead of more than four points in the first 12 minutes. Missouri lost 11 turnovers in the first half, which led to 13 points for Lindenwood. Additionally, the Tigers missed all but one of its first 10 attempts on three-point shots.
After trailing for over nine minutes, a 6-0 scoring run for Lindenwood tied the game at 25 at the 3:48 mark in the first half. After hanging in for the first 16 minutes, the Golden Lions were unable to keep up with the Tigers.
“Their tempo is really good, we knew that coming in,” Lindenwood head coach Kyle Gerdeman said of Missouri “I think it’s something we try to do as well, but I think they’re really good at how they get it out, get it up the floor.”
But, the tie would only last for 18 seconds before the Tigers regained the lead, which they would never give back.
A series of eight unanswered points from Missouri, which included a three-point make from Jacob Crews, a put-back dunk from Aidan Shaw, and capped off with another three-pointer from Marques Warrick put the Tigers up 33-25 in the 103 seconds after Lindenwood tied the game.
Warrick was subbed into the game alongside Aidan Shaw at the 7:32 mark in the first half. Both contributed to the late-half jump offensively, with Warrick scoring six, and Shaw three in the final seven minutes.
“I knew that they would provide the spark on both sides of the ball,” Gates said of substituting both in. “Specifically, Aidan Shaw being able to get a tip-dunk, and being able to just fly around and use his athleticism and quickness defensively. And then obviously, Ques being able to do what he did, ‘Ques is always ready, and he’s a silent assassin. He’s stealthy.”
Warrick shot three-of-seven on three-point shots on the night, and Gates continues to encourage him to shoot even more. The Northern Kentucky’s17 points on the night were only outdone by Iowa transfer Tony Perkins, who scored 18.
Perkins has been limited with an injury early this season for Missouri, only appearing in four of the team’s first seven games. Perkins scored 11 of Missouri’s first 25 points.
“Had some battles early, trying to figure out my situation,” Perkins said of recovering from his injury. “But, I just kept sticking with it, grinding, figuring out ways to stay in game shape and get healthy.”
The second half for Missouri was filled with highlight-reel worthy plays, including three fast break dunks. One of which came from sophomore Trent Pierce, who matched his career-high with 12 points in just 18 minutes of playing time.
“Trent Pierce, boy, has he grown up?” Gates said. ” To see his confidence soar the way that it has is an important part of our team. And what he’s doing is recovering from his mistakes, because basketball is not perfect.”
Lindenwood never was able to cut down the Missouri lead to less than 10 in the second half. Turnovers were still an issue for the Tigers in the half though, giving up nine. However, the Tigers did continue to succeed in two areas of emphasis for Gates: rebounding and getting to the free-throw line.
Missouri won the rebound battle 46 to 25. The Tigers shot 22-for-29 from the free-throw line. Perkins shot an efficient seven-for-nine from the charity stripe.
Missouri will next face its first Power Four opponent of the season, hosting California Tuesday, Dec. 3 in the SEC-ACC Challenge.
