ST. JOSEPH - The Lincoln Blue Tigers led for nearly all 40 minutes of regulation Wednesday night.
The Missouri Western Griffons then made the play of the game to force overtime, and then owned those extra five minutes.
Reese Glover converted a four-point play with :07.9 remaining in the second half, tying the game at 70 to force overtime. The Griffons, who led for just :42 in regulation, led for most of overtime to steal an 84-76 win from the Blue Tigers in the first round of the MIAA Tournament.
Missouri Western (14-9), the No. 3 seed in the tournament, advances to play second-seeded Washburn in the semifinals at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Northwest Missouri in Maryville.
The loss ends Lincoln's season at 12-11. The road continued to be a struggle for the Blue Tigers, who were 9-2 at home this season but just 3-9 away from Jason Gym.
Caleb Bennett scored on Missouri Western's second possession of the game to give the Griffons a 2-0 lead. Missouri Western wouldn't take the lead again until the 3:27 mark of overtime.
After Bennett's basket, Lincoln scored 13 of the game's next 15 points to surge to a nine-point advantage. Cameron Potts made a pair of free throws at the midway point of the first half to extend Lincoln's lead to 19-8.
Yaniel Vidal made a 3-pointer in the closing seconds of the first half to give the Blue Tigers a 43-30 lead heading into the locker room.
Potts began the second half with a dunk and Chuck Wilson followed with a fast-break layup to give Lincoln its largest lead of the game at 47-30.
Missouri Western quickly closed the gap to single digits with an 11-2 run, and a 3 by Will Eames made the score 51-46 with 11:37 to play.
A jumper by Potts pushed the Lincoln lead back to double digits at 59-49 with less than nine minutes to play, but Missouri Western cut that lead to four at 63-59 by the final media timeout with 3:43 remaining.
Q Mays hit a 3 for the Griffons to narrow the lead to one point, but Quinton Drayton answered with a three-point play to push the lead back to 68-64 with less than two minutes to go.
Drayton made a pair of free throws with :20 remaining, pushing the lead to four at 70-66. Normally a two-possession lead, Missouri Western found a way to erase that deficit in one fell swoop with Glover's four-point play.
Lincoln turned the ball over on a jump ball on the ensuing possession, but Missouri Western was unable to get off a shot, sending the game to overtime.
Sevon Witt scored on Lincoln's first possession of the extra period, but that would turn out the be the Blue Tigers' final lead of the game. Missouri Western ended the game by outscoring Lincoln 14-4.
Missouri Western shot just 38.2 percent from the floor, but the Griffons made as many 3s (13) as they made 2-point shots. Mays, who scored a game-high 32 points, was 5-of-9 from 3-point range.
Potts finished with 21 points to lead Lincoln. Drayton and Witt, who both fouled out in overtime, ended the game with 17 and 12 points, respectively.
The Blue Tigers shot 47 percent from the floor but were just 3-of-16 from 3-point range, making all three in the first half.
In Wednesday's other first-round games, No. 1 Northwest Missouri cruised past No. 8 Emporia State 100-61 and No. 5 Central Oklahoma went on the road to beat fourth-seeded Missouri Southern 109-101.
Northwest Missouri and Central Oklahoma will play in Friday's first semifinal game at 5 p.m. The championship game is scheduled for 6 p.m. Saturday.