Missouri Tigers snap 20-game basketball slide with home-opening win vs. Howard

The Missouri Tigers took care of business in their men’s basketball home opener Friday night, beating Howard University 77-62 at Mizzou Arena in Columbia.

They snapped a 20-game losing streak — a slide dating to last season — in the process.

Mizzou (1-1) got 17 points from senior guard and Kansas City native Tamar Bates and 16 from junior guard Mark Mitchell.

Marcus Dockery led Howard of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference with 14 points.

The Bison fell to 0-2, their previous loss an 87-57 drubbing at Kansas in both teams’ season opener.

The game wasn’t perfect for Missouri, which shot a dismal 3 of 22 from beyond the arc. In fact, Bates was the only Tiger to drain a three Friday, going 3 of 7 from deep.

Still, the outcome was a far and happy cry from the Tigers’ season opener at Memphis four days earlier. In that game, MU let a 10-point halftime lead slip and lost 83-75.

A final footnote: Bates was also MU’s leading scorer in the Tigers’ most recent win (until Friday night, of course): He went for 14 points on 5-for-5 shooting as MU beat Central Arkansas 92-59 last Dec. 30 at Mizzou Arena.

Missouri returns to action Monday at Mizzou Arena against Eastern Washington. That game tips off at 6 p.m.