Missouri Western's men's program rarely loses a home opener. But the Griffons' dug themselves a big hole on Tuesday night with frigid first-half shooting and ultimately fell 73-65 to Quincy - Western's first loss in a home opener in 16 years.

The Griffons shot 27 percent from the field in the first half, which led to a 34-25 halftime deficit.

"Not attacking and settling for the 3-point or jump shot gave us our problems," said Western forward Marcus Rhodes.

The Griffons came out shooting in the second half, riding the hot hand of Marcus Jones to narrow the lead to 49-47.

Jones made three consecutive shots, two of them from beyond the arc, to lead the way. The Griffons went on a 22-15 run up to that point and continued to put pressure on both the offensive and defensive sides.

"Once we started driving people were getting open shots," Rhodes said. "Even the post guys were getting open shots. We just gotta work on it, that's all."

Western tied it at 59 with just 3 minutes, 52 seconds remaining. But from that point on, the Griffons were outscored 14-6 as Quincy controlled the tempo and held off the Griffons' comeback effort.

Rhodes led the Griffons with 25 points. Justin Taylor added 9, while Jones and Mike DeWalt added 8 apiece.

"When you're not shooting the ball, you know 9-for-33, you've got to be able to compensate for that with defense and rebounding and getting them to turn the ball over," Western coach Tom Smith said. "And we did some of those things pretty well. We are just going to have to win the battles like this."