Mizzou beats Howard, 77-62 – Mizzou Today: Missouri Tigers Football & Basketball Recruiting

Mizzou beats Howard, 77-62

(Photo by Denny Medley – USA TODAY Sports)

It wasn’t pretty.

The Tigers couldn’t hit a 3, yet kept taking them, and the Howard Bison cut the lead close late.

But Missouri held on for a 77-62 win at Mizzou Arena on Friday, the first Tiger win since Dec. 30, 2023.

“We won the game defensively,” Missouri coach Dennis Gates said. “The first 5-10 minutes, defense, the last 4-5 minutes, defense. I’m excited about the character our guys showed.”

Gates made a couple of changes to the lineup going into his third home opener, starting Iowa transfer guard Tony Perkins and true freshman Annor Boateng, who scored the first points of his career to open the game.

“Annor is one of the most talented freshmen I’ve coached, when I was an assistant or a head coach. He is very, very talented and you guys were able to see that,” Gates said.

Missouri opened the game on an 8-0 run with buckets from Boateng, Tamar Bates and Mark Mitchell, as well as two Mitchell free throws on the way to his 16-point and eight-rebound night.

The Tigers extended to a 10-point lead at 14-4 after Mitchell turned a Perkins steal into a dunk with 12:07 left before halftime.

But Missouri continued to struggle from deep, missing its first 10 attempts from beyond the arc to start the game, keeping the Tigers from building the blowout advantage they expected.

Josh Gray connected on a tip-in with 8:26 left to make the score 18-11, then two Mitchell free throws made it 22-14 with 6:39 left before halftime.

An Anthony Robinson and-1 layup created a 26-17 advantage with 5:10 left, then the Tigers extended the lead to 31-19 after a Marques Warrick scoop layup with 4:10 left.

But the missed 3s kept Howard close until Bates hit Missouri’s first 3 of the game at the buzzer to send the Tigers into the break up 40-28.

“I want to shoot more 3s,” Gates said. “I want guys from every position to shoot 3s. But it wasn’t the night for that. … They were open shots, they’ll fall.”

Missouri…

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Author : Mizzou Today

Publish date : 2024-11-09 04:37:00

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