The Lindenwood men's basketball team played a near-perfect first half of Thursday night at Hyland Arena, which led the team to a 68-49 win over Fort Hays State. With the victory, the Lions moved into a two-way tie for first place in the MIAA. 

The contest was billed before the game as a battle between Lindenwood's top-ranked defense and Fort Hays State's hot-shooting offense. The defense won as the Lions dominated from the opening tip. The Tigers did not score their first points until the 15:13 mark, and by then Lindenwood had already jumped out to an 11-0 lead. The Lions never let up, and eventually led 45-18 at halftime after closing out the half on an 8-0 run.

Lindenwood slowed the game down offensively in the second half to make sure Fort Hays State could not get back into it. The Lions led by 20 or more points until the game had less than seven minutes remaining, and they never let the Tigers get closer than 16 points in the final minutes. 

Fort Hays State came into the game averaging over 80 points a game, and it led the MIAA with a 51 percent field-goal percentage and a 43.1 percent three-point percentage. The Lions were able to hold them to 49 points, a season-low for a Lindenwood opponent. The Tigers shot just 34.5 percent from the field and 21.4 percent from three-point range. 

Lindenwood's offense shot 45.5 percent for the game, including over 50 percent from the field and three-point range in the first half. The Lions dished out 16 assists and turned it over just eight times, while forcing 10 turnovers and having six steals. Lindenwood also dominated the boards, with a 26-8 advantage in the first half, and finishing with a 38-29 lead in rebounds. 

Cory Arentsen led the offense with 22 total points, including 20 in the first half. Arentsen was seven-of-eight from the field in the first 20 minutes, including hitting four three-pointers, and he tied for the team-high with five assists. Stanislas Heili finished the game with a double-double of 16 points and 15 rebounds. He was eight-of-eight shooting and had a team-high three blocks. 

LJ McIntosh was the leading scorer off the bench with 12 points. Zachary Biggs had 12 rebounds in the game, which tied a career-high. Sam Mader had five assists and two blocks, and Brad Newman finished with nine points.

Lindenwood is now 10-4 on the season and is tied with Northwest Missouri for first place in the conference with a 6-2 mark. The Lions will look to stay in first on Saturday when they host Nebraska-Kearney at 3:30 p.m. at Hyland Arena.