Gardner changes shoes, MU's luck in 81-72 win over Northwestern St.

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Thomas Gardner changed his shoes and Kevin Young changed his attitude, and Missouri recovered from a dismal first half Sunday to beat Northwestern State 81-72.

With the win, the Tigers (1-1) avoided losing two straight home games to open the season for the first time since the 1960-1961 season. It also would have been Missouri's second straight loss to a Southland Conference opponent.

The Tigers lost to Sam Houston State 80-77 on Monday in the opening round of the Preseason NIT.

Missouri, which trailed 35-27 at halftime, committed 14 turnovers in the first half and trailed by as many as 12 points. But it was Northwestern State (1-1) who struggled in the second half.

The Demons committed 21 fouls in the second half, and the Tigers capitalized by hitting 75 percent of their 28 free throw attempts after shooting only 38 percent from the line the first half.

Northwestern's State's biggest foul came with 4:18 left when Alfonse Dyer fouled Gardner on a jump shot that went in. Gardner made the free throw to give Missouri a 68-65 lead, the Tigers' first in almost 30 minutes.

Missouri never trailed again. Gardner, who changed his shoes at halftime for good luck, finished with 25 points on 8-for-16 shooting, including 4-for-7 from the 3-point line.

"I feel like a different player when I change my shoes," Gardner said.

Young had 17 points and 13 rebounds, both career highs -- and nine of those rebounds were on the offensive end.

With Missouri up 70-68 late in the game, Young scored on back-to-back possessions to put it out of reach.

"He kept it simple and I think you can argue that he was the difference down the stretch with the things he did inside," Snyder said.

Young said he seriously considered quitting the team Tuesday after scoring two points and committing three turnovers in Missouri's season opener.

"(Coach Snyder) told me I needed to make a decision whether I wanted to be on the team or not and I made a decision," Young said. "I had really had to just sit down and think about it, but I told him I wanted to be here."

Jimmy McKinney also helped the Tigers ease back into the game, scoring all 15 of his points in the second half.

Clifton Lee led Northwestern State with 17 points and grabbing eight rebounds. Kerwin Forges added 11 points.

Northwestern State went on a 20-5 run midway through the first half and led 35-27 at halftime on the strength of Jermaine Wallace's 11 points on 3-for-4 shooting from behind the 3-point line.

"They were confident coming in here, particularly because we had just been beaten," Snyder said.

It took the Demons 26 1/2 hours to travel to Columbia from Natchitoches, La., by train. The trip included a nine-hour delay in the Marshall, Texas, train station, where players were forced to sleep on the floor.

"There are too many times today when people are fragmented and going every which way because there's so much going on," McConathy said. "So it ended up being a real positive thing. I saw kids bonding, being back where it was 20 years ago where it wasn't about 'me."'

There were 5,755 fans in attendance, making it Missouri's lowest attended regular-season game at Mizzou Arena since it opened last year. The previous low was 5,997 in the first round of the NIT last March.