The Lindenwood men's basketball team concluded its home regular season on Saturday afternoon with a 70-58 victory over MidAmerica Nazarene. The win keeps the Lions alive for a shot at a NAIA National Tournament berth, and improves the team to 12-1 at the Hyland Performance Arena this season.
The Lions led for almost the entire game but needed another strong finish in order to defeat MidAmerica Nazarene for the first time since 2006. The Pioneers used a 13-2 run early in the second half to tie the game at 43 with just under 11 minutes remaining. Lindenwood answered with a 10-1 run to get a nine-point lead. The Pioneers cut it to four at 55-51 with 3:21 left, but the Lions closed things out from there with a 15-7 spurt. In the final half, Lindenwood shot 52.9 percent from the field and made 19-of-24 free throws.
Lindenwood's defense took the highest scoring team in the HAAC out of its offense rhythm in the first half. The Pioneers shot just 37.5 percent from the field in that period and turned the ball over eight times, helping the Lions lead 33-24 at halftime.
For the game, the Lions held MidAmerica Nazarene to 42.3 percent shooting, including four-of-13 from three-point range. The Pioneers' duo of Brenton Bell and Rustin Dowd scored just 17 points on six-of-21 shooting. Those two players came into the game averaging a combined 36.4 points a game. As a team, the Pioneers scored 18 points below their season average.
Offensively, Lindenwood was led by
Richard Rose with 19 points. He hit six-of-10 from the field and made seven-of-eight from the free throw line.
The game was Senior Day for Lindenwood and all four seniors contributed.
Toriano Adams had a double-double with 16 points and 13 rebounds, connecting on six-of-nine from the field.
Joey Parker finished with 10 points and six rebounds,
Jerome Douglas scored eight points, and
Shane Williams grabbed one rebound and helped the team get off to a good start on the defensive end.
Lindenwood concludes its regular season next Saturday with a road contest at William Jewell. A victory could propel the team to one of the conference's automatic bids to the national tournament.
