The Lindenwood men's basketball team saw its three-game winning streak come to an end on Thursday night in St. Joseph, Mo. with an 88-78 loss at Missouri Western.
 
The Griffons became the first MIAA team to score over 70 points on the Lions this year, in large part due to hot shooting from beyond the three-point arc. Missouri Western came into the game ranked 13th in the MIAA by hitting 32.9 percent of its three-point attempts, but hit 10-of-15 versus Lindenwood.
 
Seven of the team's three-pointers came in the first half when Missouri Western jumped out to a 42-28 lead. The score was tied at 18 around the 11-minute mark when the Griffons went on a 17-4 run. The Lions cut that deficit to seven, but Missouri Western scored the final seven points of the half for the 14-point lead.
 
Lindenwood could never get closer than seven points in the second half as Missouri Western did not let the Lions get a run more than four points in the final 20 minutes. The Griffons shot 61.9 percent in the final half as they missed just eight field-goal attempts.
 
Missouri Western ended the game shooting 52 percent from the field. The Griffons also got sent to the free-throw line 37 times, and they made 26 of those shots. The Lions shot just 41.3 percent from the field, including four-of-23 from three-pointer range.
 
Lindenwood, which scored its third-highest point total of the year, was led in scoring by Cory Arentsen with 18 points. Brad Newman finished with 17, LJ McIntosh had 12 points, and Sam Mader had 11. Arentsen also led the team in rebounds with seven, one more than Mader and Stanislas Heili.
 
Lindenwood falls to 15-7 overall and 11-5 in MIAA play. The Lions travel to MIAA leader Northwest Missouri on Saturday for a 3:30 p.m. game.