The William Jewell College men's basketball team hit the road on Saturday for the first time this season traveling to Joplin, Mo., to take on Missouri Southern State University.  The Lions used a late second half surge to hand the Cardinals their first defeat of 2016, 99-89. 
 
Jewell falls to 2-1 overall while the Lions stay perfect at 3-0.
 
The first half saw the Cardinals light it up from the floor shooting 64% from the field and 54% from three-point land to lead 45-37 at halftime.  Patrick Whelan led all scores with 18 at the half on 6-9 shooting including 3-4 from three. 
 
Missouri Southern went on a run to briefly take a 51-50 lead in the second half only to see the Cardinals go on an 11-3 run to lead 61-54 at the first media timeout. 
 
The Cards found themselves up 84-79 with over six minutes to play when the Lions went on a 5-0 run to take a one-point lead.  Jorge Perez-Laham's two free throws tied the game 89-89 with 2:39 to play.
 
Missouri Southern's CJ Carr nailed a three with 1:41 to go to up the Lions up 92-89 and the Lions scored another three unanswered points to lead 95-89 with 50 seconds to play.  After a couple of Jewell misses the Lions then put the game away at the free throw line.
 
Perez-Laham led Jewell with 23 points and six assists, while Whelan finished with 21.  Larry Fitzgerald had a big second half for Jewell and scored 19 points. 
 
Carr led all scores with 26 points and 11 assists for Missouri Southern.
 
Next up, the Cardinals will travel to Melbourne, Fla., to take part in the Florida Tech Classic.  Jewell will take on Tuskegee University on Friday, November 25.