The Lindenwood men's basketball team shot 61.9 percent from the field during its 100-50 victory over Hannibal-LaGrange on Thursday evening from Hyland Arena in St. Charles, Mo. Lindenwood had several impressive offensive performances in the game, however, it was a defensive performance that highlighted the game for the Lions.
Kamau Kinder established a new single-game program record for Lindenwood, totaling eight steals in the game. With the win, Lindenwood snaps a three-game losing skid, and improves its record to 4-3 on the season.
GAME OVERVIEW
Lindenwood wasted little time taking control of the game, jumping out to a 10-0 lead after the first 2:36 of play. Kinder knocked down a three-point field-goal with just over 16 minutes remaining in the first half, extending the Lindenwood lead to 14-2 margin. From that point forward, the Lions never had their lead dip below double digits, and before the end of the first half Lindenwood saw its lead swell to 30 points. Kinder connected on his third three of the first half in the closing seconds to push the Lions lead to 55-25 at the break.
The Lions were lights out from the field throughout the first 20 minutes of play, hitting 62.5 percent (20-of-32) of their shots.
Lindenwood continued to grow its lead throughout the second half, as it continued to shoot with impressive efficiency. As a team, the Lions hit on 19-of-31 (61.3 percent) during the second half, including 4-of-9 (44.4 percent) from three-point range.
Kace Kitchell swelled the Lindenwood lead to a game-high 53-point lead at 100-47 with 71 seconds left in the game. Following an and-one layup by Hannibal-LaGrange, the Lindenwood lead found its final count at 100-50.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
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Vijay Blackmon totaled a game-high 23 points (10-of-14 FG, 2-of-5 3PFG).
- Blackmon surpassed the 20-point mark for the third consecutive game, and has now led the Lions in scoring twice this season.
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TJ Crockett contributed 21 points (6-of-9 FG, 8-of-8 FT). Crockett has scored at least 20 points in all seven games this season for the Lions.
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Luka Radosevic added a season-high 14 points, and did not miss a shot all night. Radosevic was a perfect 5-of-5 from the field, which included two makes from behind the arc.
- Kinder chipped in with a season-high 13-point performance (5-of-8 FG).
- On the other end of the court, Kinder established a new single-game program record with eight steals in the game.
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Anthony Christian secured a team-leading eight rebounds to go along with his seven points.
- As a team, Lindenwood had its best shooting performance of the season, finishing with a 61.9 percent (39-of-63) mark from the field.
- The Lions forced the Trojans into 30 turnovers during the game, scoring a total of 46 points off of those errors.
QUOTABLE
Head Coach Kyle Gerdeman
"I'm really pleased with our teams focus and effort over the full 40 minutes tonight," said Gerdeman. "It's finals week, our guys have a lot going on, and it can be easy to lose focus, but we handled it well. I thought offensively we were unselfish, and were efficient. Defensively we did a good job with our full court pressure and half court focus. Again, a good all around effort over 40 minutes."
UP NEXT
Lindenwood will continue its homestand with a Tuesday evening matchup versus Avila from Hyland Arena at 7:00 p.m.
