KANSAS CITY - The Missouri Western men found their footing in the second half and ran past Haskell Indian Nations 81-57 in the Rock U Harvesters Classic in Kansas City.

The Griffons shot 47.7 percent from the field with Marcus Rhodes leading the way at 20 points on 8-for-14 shooting.

Western (4-1) has won four in a row.

The first half was a back-and-forth battle between the two teams with the largest lead by either team being six - a 20-14 advantage by Western) with 7 minutes, 36 secondds left in the first half. The Indians battled back to take a 33-32 lead with 11 seconds left in the first half.

Rhodes made a nice move and a lay-up as time expired to give Western the one-point lead halftime lead.

Dominique Thuston led the Griffons in the first half with 11 points on 3-for-4 shooting from long range.

In the second half, the Griffons ignited. They shot 61 percent

With the game tied at 37 with 19:01 left, the Griffons started rolling. They went on a 31-10 run to take a 68-47 lead with 8:47 left. Western held the Indians to just 10 points the rest of the game.

Along with Rhodes, the Griffons had three other players finish in double figure scoring as Thuston finished with 13 points, Mike DeWalt had 11 points and James Bush 10. Western also had 14 steals and forced 26 turnovers.

Haskell's Dominic Clichee led all scorers with 27 points. The Indians fell to 1-11.

The Griffons dominated the game in the paint scoring 48 points to the Indians' 16 in the lane. Western also had 29 points off turnovers.

Western women 52, Colorado-Colorado Springs 43

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - The Griffons picked up their first victory of the season by defeating the host school, Colorado-Colorado Springs, 52-43 in the final game of the Hyatt Place Thanksgiving Classic.

Western (1-3) was led by Jessica Koch and Rachel Luteyn, who had 15 and 11 points respectively.

The Griffons jumped on top of the Mountain Lions early as they scored the first eight points of the contest. Western extended its lead to-12 with 5:09 left in the first half after a 3-pointer by Kallie Schoonover.

The Griffons cruised the rest of the half, taking a 30-21 lead into the locker room.

The Griffons outshot their opponent for the first time this season by hitting 35 percent from the field, compared to the Mountain Lions 28 percent. Neither team shot well from behind the arc, as the Griffons only made two 3-point shots while Colorado-Colorado Springs made four.

The Griffons hit 10 of 12 free throws. They also outrebounded their opponent for the first time this season as they had 43 rebounds to the Mountain Lions' 40.

Ashley Miller and Lauren Holm led Colorado-Colorado Springs with 11 and 10 points respectively, while Mallory Lowe had 10 rebounds to lead all players.

Western's Tierra Ford finished the game with seven points and seven rebounds for the Griffons, and Luteyn had nine rebounds.

Metro State women 54, Northwest Missouri State 53

DENVER - Northwest Missouri State dropped the second game at the Metro State Thanksgiving Classic on Saturday night.

Gabby Curtis led the Bearcats with 17 points and chipped in with three rebounds.

The Bearcats' Shelly Martin hit four 3-pointers and scored 12 points. Gentry Dietz scored six and pulled down nine rebounds for the Bearcats. Ashley Thayer had a career-high eight points in the loss.

Northwest (4-2) shot 34 percent from the field and hit a season-best nine 3-pointers. The Bearcat defense also played well, forcing 19 Metro State turnovers and holding them to 35 percent shooting from the field.

The difference came at the free throw line, where Northwest hit six free throws while Metro State made 17. The Bearcats were also outrebounded 29-51.

The back-and-forth battle featured six ties and 14 lead changes. Northwest led for a large portion of the first half before Metro State scored two straight buckets to go up 26-24 at the half.

The second half was just as hotly contested, and had Northwest in the lead with 1:37 remaining. But then Emily Wood would hit a jumper with 15 seconds to play to put Metro State up by one. The Bearcats, with the game on the line, missed two shots in the final five seconds.