KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Kendrick Thompson recorded his 13th 20-point game, but the RiverHawks offense struggled out of the gates and fell 96-60 to #22-ranked Missouri Southern in the MIAA Championship Quarterfinal on Friday evening.

Thompson's 21 points are tied for fourth-most by an NSU player in the MIAA Postseason, and the senior hit five treys.

The loss will end their season with an 18-11 record and a second straight appearance in the MIAA Tournament.  NSU's 18 wins is the most since 2013.

"They made shots, and we gave little resistance," said head coach Mark Downey.  "It's disappointing in that regard; I think a lot of the things that we struggled with all year came to fruition tonight, all of them. It was a microseism of things we've struggled with all year."

Outside of Thompson, RiverHawks' offense sputtered out of the gates, and behind 51.4-percent shooting Southern exploded out to a 20-point lead twice in the final four minutes of the first half.   Most of the damage was done in the last ten minutes with MOSO going on a 23-9 run, where they dropped five treys on NSU.  

Thompson would have 16 of NSU's 29 points at the intermission.  The Lions had two with 15 points and led 48-29.

The trend continued for the RiverHawks in the second half with the Lions continuing to shoot a hot hand and continued to extend their lead.

Caleb Smith finished with nine points with Josh Ihek had eight with six rebounds.

Northeastern State shot 40-percent and was out-rebounded 46-to-35.

Missouri Southern (22-7) advances to the tournament semifinal to face Rogers State on Saturday at 8:15 p.m.