KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The Pittsburg State University men's basketball team turned in a total team effort Sunday (Mar. 8) in claiming the program's first MIAA Post-Season Tournament Championship in a lopsided 91-65 victory over Missouri Southern State University at Municipal Auditorium.
The Gorillas (20-11) secured the program's 11th all-time 20-win season while securing the MIAA's automatic berth to the 2015 NCAA Division II National Tournament. The 64-team NCAA field will be announced Sunday night.
Junior guard Trey Starks, who transferred to Pitt State at the semester and played for the first time for the Gorillas on Feb. 8, scored a game-high 24 points and garnered Tournament MVP honors. The Springfield, Mo., native made eight of 11 shots from the floor, including a pair of 3-pointers. He added five rebounds, three assists and three steals in the contest.
The Gorillas built a 44-28 halftime advantage. Pitt State forced MSSU (20-11) into 14 first-half turnovers and the Gorillas made 16 of 35 shots from the field in the opening period. The Lions managed just nine of 20 shooting in the opening half.
Pitt State extended its margin to 18 points, before MSSU trimmed the margin to 10, at 50-40, with 15:44 to play in the game. The Gorillas lead stood at 11, 58-47, with 11:25 to play, but Pitt State took control for good with an 8-0 run. Starks made a pair of baskets in the surge and junior forward Lamine Dieng added a dunk.
The Lions, saddled with foul trouble throughout the contest, never made another push.
Sophomore guard Josiah Gustafson scored 14 points in the game and also earned All-Tournament honors. Freshman guard Dakota Jones added 16 points, including nine of 10 shooting from the free throw line. Pitt State, which dropped a 66-63 regular season decision to MSSU on Feb. 21 thanks to poor foul shooting down the stretch (5 of 14 in game's final 6 minutes), converted 21 of 25 free throws Sunday.
Sophomore forward Trevor Gregory scored six points and pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds as Pitt State outrebounded MSSU, 33-24, including a 13-6 margin on the offensive glass.
Junior guard Austin Wright led three Lions players in double figures with 18 points.
The Gorillas became the first No. 5 seed to claim an MIAA Post-Season Tournament title and the highest-seeded team to claim the tournament crown. Pitt State also became the first squad to go 4-0 in the tournament since the field expanded to 12 teams.
MSSU came up short in its bid to repeat as MIAA Post-Season Tournament champions after claiming the 2013-14 title a year ago.
