McKendree opened the second-half on a large run which proved to be the difference as the No. 12 Lions men’s basketball team lost to the No. 5 Bearcats by a 73-62 score.
Lindenwood made the first major run in the contest as it scored nine straight points to take a 19-10 lead midway through the first half. McKendree controlled the second part of the period though, outscoring the Lions 23-13 for the final 10 minutes to lead 33-32 at halftime.
The Lions came out cold in the second half, failing to score for the first 7:36. In that time, McKendree scored 12 points to take a 45-32 advantage, and it eventually built that lead to 17 points. Lindenwood tried to make things interesting down the stretch, scoring nine straight at one point to cut the lead to single-digits. Its best chance to comeback came when the Lions were down 58-49 and had the ball with a chance to cut it to two possessions. Lindenwood missed a field goal however and the Bearcats knocked down a three on the other end. After that, McKendree made 12 free throws in the final minutes to seal the win.
McKendree shot slightly better than Lindenwood from the field although both teams shot under 40 percent. The big difference though came at the free throw line. Lindenwood shot 90 percent, but attempted 12 less shots than the Bearcats. McKendree also forced five more turnovers and outrebounded the Lions by six rebounds.
Individually,
Richard Rose had 17 points, including nine-of-10 from the charity stripe.
Toriano Adams added a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds, and he led the team with three assists. Other top scorers included eight points for
Joey Parker, seven for
Shane Williams, and six off the bench for
Jerome Douglas.
Lindenwood returns to the court this Friday for its home opener at 8 p.m. against No. 1 Robert Morris.