The Lindenwood men's basketball team lost its regular season finale on Saturday afternoon with a 67-65 setback at William Jewell. The loss leaves the Lions in fourth place in the final HAAC standings, and the team now has to win the HAAC Tournament if it wants to make the national tournament field.

Lindenwood outplayed the Cardinals in every area except fouls and free throws. The Lions had nearly twice as many fouls called on them, leading to a big difference in free throw attempts. William Jewell went to the free throw line 31 times, 15 more than the Lions, and it converted 10 more free throws. The foul troubles by Lindenwood also cost it one of their best players down the stretch, as Brett Thompson fouled out with nine minutes remaining.

The Lions outrebounded the Cardinals by 10 boards and they made four more field goals. Lindenwood shot 44.2 percent from the field, compared to 42.2 percent for William Jewell.

The first half was back-and-forth, with both teams have numerous large runs. The period had seven lead changes, the last coming at the buzzer when a Lindenwood field goal gave it a 29-27 lead.

In the second half, the two teams were tied at 45 when William Jewell went on a 6-0 run. The Lions could never recover from that, as the closest they got was within two points with only 0.3 seconds remaining. The free throw discrepancy especially came in the final half as the Cardinals went to the free throw line 23 times in that period, seven more than Lindenwood went the entire game.

Richard Rose led Lindenwood with 19 points. He made six-of-11 from the field and four-of-seven from three-point range. Joey Parker had 16 points and had game-highs of five assists and three steals. Toriano Adams just missed a double-double with 10 points and nine rebounds. Thompson finished with eight points and six boards.

The Lions end the regular season with a 21-9 overall record and 13-7 HAAC mark. Lindenwood will host a first round HAAC Tournament game on Wednesday evening at 7 p.m. The Lions will take on Missouri Valley that night, a team it split a pair of games with in the regular season.