PITTSBURG — Missouri Southern State University rallied from seven points down with 6:12 to play in the game to claim a 66-63 victory over Pittsburg State University Saturday (Feb. 21) before a racaus crowd of 2,611 fans at John Lance Arena.

The loss dropped the Gorillas (15-9, 12-5 MIAA) from a three-way tie for first place in the MIAA standings, while the Lions (16-10, 10-7 MIAA) won for just the second time in six games.

Dakota Jones' jumper gave Pitt State a 58-51 lead with 6:12 to play, but MSSU scored the next seven points to tie the game at 58-58 on Cameron Cornelius' free throw with 4:08 to go. The Gorillas went 0-for-4 from the field and 5-for-14 from the free throw line in the game's final six minutes to allow the Lions' rally.

Pitt State had a chance to tie the game at 64-64 with 21 seconds to play but Devon Branch was called for a charge while making the game-tieing basket. Charlie Brown missed two free throws with 11.9 seconds remaining to keep the game at 64-62. Branch then had a chance to knot the score with five seconds to play, but he missed the second of two free throws and Brown sealed the win with two free throws with four seconds to go.

Josiah Gustafson scored a game-high 22 points for the Gorillas, but he exited the game with an injury with 5:00 remaining. Branch finished with 13 points, while Gregory added 11 points and seven rebounds.

MSSU got 17 points from Cornelius and 16 more from Taevaunn Prince.

The Gorillas will hit the road for an MIAA match-up against Emporia State University Wednesday (Feb. 25) at Emporia, Kan. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m. (CST) at White Auditorium.