The Lindenwood men's basketball team missed out on a chance to move into sole possession of first place in the MIAA on Wednesday night with a 54-41 setback against Central Missouri in Warrensburg, Mo.
 
The Lions struggled offensively throughout the night, including a nine-minute drought in which the Mules took control of the game. Lindenwood shot just 34.8 percent from the field, including three-of-14 from three-point range. The team also turned the ball over 16 times, ten more than the Mules.
 
The Lions defense was good enough to win on most nights, holding the Mules to 34.6 percent shooting from the field and 36.4 percent from three-point range. Lindenwood also won the rebounding battle by 13 boards.
 
Both teams started out slow offensively, with the Lions and Mules shooting under 30 percent for the first 10 minutes of the game. Lindenwood appeared to come out the slow start first sparked by LJ McIntosh. He hit three-pointers on back-to-back Lions possessions, and then a putback layup by Zachary Biggs two possessions later gave Lindenwood its only lead of the game at 15-13.
 
The shot by Biggs came at the 7:04 mark, and it turned out to be Lindenwood's final points of the half. The Mules quickly tied the game at 15, and then neither team scored for over three minutes. Central Missouri finally broke out offensively and finished the half on a 16-0 run, which put the Mules up by a 29-15 score.
 
Lindenwood's scoring drought continued for two more minutes into the second half. The Mules were able to tack on four more points to make it a 20-0 run. The Lions were finally able to knock some shots down in the second half, as they shot 47.6 percent from the field for the period, but they could never cut the lead to single digits.
 
Chandler Diekvoss led the Lions with nine points, and he was a perfect three-of-three from the field in the game. McIntosh finished with eight points, and Stanislas Heili had seven points and a team-high nine rebounds.
 
Lindenwood falls to 11-5 overall and 7-3 in the MIAA. The Lions are currently in a three-way tie for first in the conference, with Lincoln just a half game behind. Lindenwood will be in action again on Saturday afternoon at Southwest Baptist.