The No. 13 Missouri Tigers beat the Stanford Cardinal, 78-70, in the first round the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament in The Bahamas on Thursday afternoon. The Tigers built a double-digit first-half lead before surviving a second-half charge from the Cardinal.
Phil Pressey hit a 7-footer to give Mizzou a 28-16 lead with 6:59 to go in the first, and that would be the Tigers' biggest lead of the night. Stanford immediately went on a run to get the deficit down to three by halftime, and would take the lead at 38-37 early in the second half.
Missouri would respond, as Laurence Bowers hit a three to take the lead back on the next possession. The Cardinal would not go out in front the rest of the day as the Tigers had an answer for everything.
Bowers led Mizzou with 19 points on 9-14 shooting to go along with 10 rebounds. Pressey added 18 points, nine assists, and five rebounds.
Chasson Randle led all scorers with 22 points for the Cardinal on 7-14 from the field.
The Tigers move to 4-0 with the win, while Stanford drops to 3-2.
This story originally appeared at SB Nation.