The Lindenwood men's basketball team led for just eight seconds in the second half of its game on Saturday afternoon at Hyland Arena, but it was the most important seconds of the contest.
Cory Arentsen hit a jumper with eight ticks remaining to give the Lions a 69-68 win over Missouri Southern.
Lindenwood trailed almost the entire game and had to overcome a 16-point deficit to win its showdown between the two second-place teams in the MIAA. Lindenwood was down 12 points with 6:24 left in the game, but it closed the contest on a 16-3 run. It got back into the game with a 10-0 run that made the score 65-63. After trading layups, Arentsen tied the game with 56 seconds left. On Missouri Southern's next possession, its top player, Taevuann Prince, was fouled but made just one-of-two free throws.
After the missed free throw, Lindenwood was fouled but the team missed both free throws.
Sam Mader tipped out the offensive rebound, and the team set up Arentsen's game-winning shot from just outside the elbow.
Missouri Southern had one more possession and got off a shot off in the lane, but Lindenwood's
Stanislas Heili got a piece of it, and Missouri Southern did not have time to get off another shot.
The victory capped a big second-half comeback after Missouri Southern jumped out to a big lead in the first half. The visiting Lions had a 13-0 run at one point to go up 24-12, and stretched the lead to 16 with under a minute to play in the half. Lindenwood closed out the half on a 4-0 run though, including a layup by Arentsen as time expired which made the score 39-27.
Lindenwood used that momentum to come out strong in the second half. It got within four points with nine minutes remaining before Missouri Southern scored eight straight to go up 12. An Arentsen three-pointer though started Lindenwood's final winning run.
Lindenwood finished the game shooting 44.8 percent from the field, compared to 45.2 percent for Missouri Southern. Lindenwood shot 48.4 percent in the final half, and also hit six three-pointers and turned the ball over just two times.
Arentsen finished with 24 points on 10-of-18 shooting, and he made four three-pointers. Mader had a career-high 21 points, and finished with a double-double after also having 11 rebounds. Heili finished with eight points, 11 rebounds, and two blocked shots.
Brad Newman dished out six assists, and
LJ McIntosh came off the bench to score nine points, including six-of-six from the free-throw line.
Lindenwood improves to 13-6 overall and 9-4 in the MIAA. The Lions have their Oklahoma road trip next week, starting with a Thursday game against Northeastern State.
