Robertson’s heroics carry Missouri over Stephen F. Austin

Kassius Robertson stood in the far corner of the court, right in front of the Missouri bench, pump-faked a defender and drilled a three to send Mizzou Arena into fits.

The graduate transfer followed with a floater on the following possession to give the Tigers a six-point cushion and keep the Lumberjacks from retaking the lead.

Robertson, a 6-foot-3 upperclassmen, played hero on Tuesday night as he tied a season-high with 23 points in Missouri’s 82-81 win over Stephen F. Austin in a game that showed flashes of the team’s heartbreaking loss to West Virginia. The win was Missouri’s fifth in a row, which puts the team at 10-2 going into Saturday’s Braggin’ Rights game against Illinois.

Missouri had a hard time pulling away, especially early on, as the Lumberjacks’ blitzball screen defense forced a lot of MU turnovers that led to easy points.

With the score tied 19-19 with 11:27 left in the first half, senior Jordan Barnett and Robertson each hit a three-pointer out of the media timeout to help build a small lead for Missouri that it would sustain for the rest of the half. Barnett was all over the place for Missouri in the first half, scoring 17 points with a balanced combination from behind the arc and inside. He finished with 22 points.

“Coach (Cuonzo) Martin picked on our defense,” Lumberjacks coach Kyle Keller said. “He just toyed with us.”

The Lumberjacks’ trio of Shannon Bogues, Leon Gilmore III and Kevon Harris all hit shots throughout the half to keep Missouri from running away with the game.

A pair of turnovers on consecutive plays that Harris and Gilmore scored on cut Missouri’s lead to three with 5:32 left in the first half. Barnett and Robertson scored nine points in the final 5 minutes of the half, giving Missouri a 48-40 lead at the break.

Missouri shot 67 percent from beyond the three-point arc in the first half and spent the majority of the half shooting around 90 percent from the field.

“It was a HORSE contest,” Keller said. “They were playing HORSE. They were just picking spots on the floor where they wanted to shoot in the first half.”

The Lumberjacks took control in the second half as their defense began to wear on Missouri and force more turnovers. The Tigers did themselves no favors as they played sloppy on some offensive possessions and with handling fouls. Missouri’s 21 turnovers Wednesday surpassed the previous season high of 19, which came in the team’s loss to the Mountaineers.

Robertson said the Lumberjacks’ system led to a lot of Missouri turnovers because it’s not a tactic players see a lot of.

“That surprised us a little bit,” he said. “We watched it in film, but it’s a totally different thing playing against it.”

A 17-7 Stephen F. Austin run in the middle of the second half erased Missouri’s lead completely and swung the momentum in the Lumberjacks’ favor. After barely missing in the first half, Barnett went scoreless for more than 10 minutes, and the free-throw line became Missouri’s main source for points.

Jontay Porter, who had a relatively quiet game, came up with a huge block under the basket to sustain Missouri’s momentum shortly after Robertson’s three-pointer.

The Lumberjacks hit three after three to keep the game within one possession, but Robertson knocked the ball loose in the final 10 seconds, dived on the floor for it and immediately called a timeout with 2.7 seconds left to secure the game.

“I had to do something,” Robertson joked after the game. “I was so shocked I missed those free throws I had to forget about it.”

Robertson said the game reminded him of the West Virginia loss, when the team blew a late lead. Shortly after the game, Robertson said he took the loss harder than others because as a senior he felt that he should’ve done more.

On Tuesday he didn’t want to make the same mistake twice.

“I didn’t ice it with the free throws but I did it with a defensive play,” he said, before adding jokingly, “That saved me from locking myself in my room for a week.”

MISSOURI 82, STEPHEN F. AUSTIN 81

Half: Missouri 48-40.

This story was originally published December 19, 2017 at 10:36 PM with the headline "Robertson’s heroics carry Missouri over Stephen F. Austin."