The Lindenwood men's basketball team traveled to Birmingham, Ala. on Thursday night for an exhibition game against the preseason favorite in NCAA Division I's Conference USA. The Lions fell to UAB by a score of 92-69.
 
Lindenwood kept the game close up to the first media timeout, but the Blazers went on a 19-3 run to open up a 28-8 lead. UAB went on to lead by a 53-32 margin at halftime. In the second half, Lindenwood played even with the Blazers as it was just outscored by two points.
 
The Lions, which started two freshmen and two sophomores, had a lot of good takeaways from the exhibition contest. One of the biggest was their three-point shooting, where Lindenwood shot 45.7 percent and knocked down 16 shots from beyond the arc. Eight different Lions had at least one three-pointer in the game. The Lions also had 15 assists on their 23 field goals.
 
Lindenwood also improved as the game went along in several areas. The Lions were outrebounded in the first half by 16 boards, but came back out and won the rebounding battle 21-15 in the second half. Lindenwood also cut its turnovers down by 40 percent in the final 20 minutes, and UAB shot just 44.8 percent from the field after being over 60 percent in the first half.
 
Lindenwood's top returning players, Chandler Diekvoss and LJ McIntosh, led the way for the Lions. Diekvoss had a team-high 13 points and also had seven rebounds and three assists. McIntosh had four three-pointers and 12 points, and dished out four assists.
 
True freshmen Zac Haese and Dominique Dobbs had impressive debuts. Haese was four-of-four from three-point range, while Dobbs had seven points and nine rebounds. Adam Pohlman dished out a team-high six assists and had just two turnovers.
 
Lindenwood opens the regular season next week at the MIAA/NSIC Classic in Wisconsin Dells, Wis. The Lions face Bemidji State on Nov. 11 and Minnesota Duluth on Nov. 12.