SAN ANTONIO, Texas — Missouri Southern continually found its way into the paint allowing the Lions to pull away with a 77-71 win over Midwestern State Saturday afternoon in the St. Mary's Thanksgiving Classic at Bill Greehey Arena.

"I wasn't happy with the way we defended or executed today," MSU coach Nelson Haggerty said. "We knew they were a tough team and allowed them to out-execute us. It's not enough to just play hard. We have to play well, too."

The Mustangs, who fell to 4-2 on the season, close the classic Sunday afternoon against St. Mary's (Texas). Tipoff is set for 3 p.m.

Missouri Southern senior guard Lane Barlow poured in a career-high 29 points to help Lions land a final 14-7 game closing run as MSSU improved to 5-3 on the season.

The Lions jumped out to a 23-14 lead when Barlow landed his second triple of the opening half to punctuate a 10-0 run, but it was the first of many runs as the teams exchanged blows.

MSU senior guard Derrell Gibbs ignited a 19-4 run with the first of his three 3-pointers of the game as the Mustangs pushed the least out to a game-high 33-27 when Abiodun Adegoke converted a transition layup with 4:05 to go in the opening half.

Adegoke enjoyed a career game finishing with 18 points and nine rebounds while hitting on 7-of-8 shots from the field and 4-for-7 shots from the charity stripe.

"Abiodun did a good job of keeping us in the game," Haggerty said. "He pulled down some big rebounds and hit big free throws down the stretch."

The lead changed hands eight times in the opening 10 minutes of the second half before the Mustangs used a 7-0 spurt to take a 53-47 lead with 10:48 to play.

Missouri Southern chipped away at the lead taking the advantage for good when Taylor Luster's 3-pointer from the right wing gave the Lions a 59-57 advantage with 6:56 to play. MSU would never lead again.

Redshirt-freshman Devante Pullum pitched in 14 points, while senior forward Xavier Blackburn had 13 points and seven rebounds.

Cameron Cornelius and Luster notched 12 and 11 points for Missouri Southern which improved to 5-3 on the season.