Struggling McKinney hits late shots for Tigers

COLUMBIA, Mo -- The shots hadn't been falling Sunday for Missouri's Jimmy McKinney, but coach Quin Snyder still had confidence in his senior guard.

That patience paid off and McKinney hit jumpers on back-to-back possessions with less than five minutes left to help Missouri defeat Furman 72-63.

"The things that he scored in were set plays for him," Snyder said. "We went to him, which should tell him a lot about how I feel about him when you're oh-for-10 and your coach calls your number back to back."

McKinney's second jumper with 3:21 left gave Missouri (4-3) the lead for good, and Jason Horton hit a 3-pointer to extend the Tiger advantage to 65-60 with 1:53 left.

"That was the difference in the game. They stepped up and made two jump shots, and we didn't take care of our opportunities," Furman coach Larry Davis said.

Furman had a couple of chances to tighten the game with less than a minute to go, but Eric Webb's 3-point attempt fell short for the Paladins, and Robby Bostain missed a layup.

Thomas Gardner led Missouri with 20 points, and Horton added 13. McKinney, who had seven points on 2-for-12 shooting from the floor, said he appreciated Snyder's confidence late in the game.

"He knows that I can knock down those shots," McKinney said. "I should have been knocking down those shots the whole game, but they just weren't falling for me. It's definitely frustrating, but I kept my focus and I was trying to smile and be like, 'Man, it's going to fall. It's going to fall sooner or later."'

Bostain led Furman (4-4) with 18 points and eight rebounds.