ST. CHARLES, Mo. - Lindenwood men's basketball (9-21, 3-14 OVC) snapped their seven game losing streak with a win at Southern Indiana (8-22, 5-12 OVC) by a final score of 67-63. It marked the first ever win for the program over USI.
"Incredibly proud of these guys," said head coach
Kyle Gerdeman. "It's obviously been a tough stretch, but they never stopped working and tonight it paid off for them. Just a tremendous effort."
Nathan Johnson Jr. was a spark off the bench scoring a career-high 18 points in the win while shooting 6-11 from the floor including two triples. Johnson was one of four Lions to score in double figures including
Darius Beane (12 points) who had a clutch layup with 14 seconds left to secure the win.
Lindenwood's offense struggled out the gate as it was a low scoring affair early on.
Jeremiah Talton scored the first five points for Lindenwood. He ended the game with 16 points while going 7-10 from the foul line.
After an early 11-9 lead for Lindenwood, USI would go on an 9-1 run to push the lead to 18-12. Back-and-forth action in Screaming Eagles Arena up until the final five minutes of action for USI when Ryan Hall made back-to-back-to-back threes to pull out to a 29-20 lead. Hall had five three-pointers in the first half and scored a season high 22 points.
After trailing in the first half by 11, Lindenwood managed to cut the lead to four points right before halftime with a Johnson three-pointer. The Lions were held to just 39.1% shooting in the first half while USI shot 52.0% from the field. LU went 9-14 from the line to keep it close at half while Southern Indiana was held to just four attempts in the first 20 minutes.
Beane and
Jaylon McDaniel combined to score the first 10 points coming out of halftime to cut the lead to 41-42 with 16:23 remaining. The Lions started the second half red hot shooting 5-8 from the field.
Tommie Williams contributed off the bench with a steal and a layup to tie the game at 46. Southern Indiana was held without a field goal from the 14:27 mark until 4:31 left in the game. They scored all 11 of their points in that span at the foul line.
Although he struggled from the field,
Keith Haymon II (1-9 FG) hit a big three with 9:40 remaining to give Lindenwood the 49048 advantage and their first lead since early in the second half.
Southern Indiana went on a 6-0 scoring run with 6:15 left to go up three. Lindenwood then saw Talton nail a three to cut the lead to one point with 2:46 remaining.
Talton was then fouled late on a defensive rebound to send him to the line where he nailed two shots giving LU the 62-61 lead. After a missed shot by USI's Jeremiah Hernandez, Beane had a tough layup and finish to give Lindenwood a three-point lead with 14 second remaining.
Lindenwood would ice the game with free throws by Beane and Haymon to secure their third Ohio Valley Conference win of the season. As a team Lindenwood shot 19-26 from the line and 44.4% from the field in the second half.
McDaniel ended the game with 12 points for Lindenwood. The Lions also out-rebounded USI 34-30 after the Screaming Eagles out-rebounded LU by 12 in the first meeting. USI was held to 29.2% shooting from the floor in the second half.
Lindenwood will return to action for the final time this season on Saturday when they take on Morehead State in Morehead, Ky. at 2:30 p.m. CT. For more information go to lindenwoodlions.com.
