The Lindenwood men's basketball team picked up a 97-75 victory over the Avila Eagles on Tuesday evening from Hyland Arena in St. Charles, Mo. The Lions hit 15 three-pointers in the win, the most in a single game for Lindenwood since it made 16 three-pointers versus Missouri Southern on Jan. 12, 2017. With the win, Lindenwood improves its record to 5-3 on the season.

GAME OVERVIEW
Lindenwood and Avila exchanged baskets over the first five minutes of play, as the score remained even at 11-11 early on. With just under 15 minutes remaining in the first half, Luka Radosevic connected on a shot from behind the arc, sending the Lions ahead by a 14-11 margin, and sparking the team on an 11-2 run to take a 22-13 lead.

Avila answered quickly, as it embarked on a run of its own, scoring 10 consecutive points over the next 3:43 to take a 23-22 lead.

Following a Cyrus Barnes layup with 7:50 remaining in the opening frame, Lindenwood took control of the game for good, moving ahead of the visitors by a 24-23 score and never looking back. Barnes' layup ignited the Lindenwood offense as it managed to extend its first-half lead to as many as 14 points, before ultimately concluding the half with a 48-36 edge.

Lindenwood never had its lead dip below double digits throughout the second half, and saw its lead swell to a game-high 23-point margin at 84-61 following a Cameron Scales layup late in the period.

In the end, the Lions outlasted the Eagles, prevailing in the non-conference matchup by a final score of 97-75.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- TJ Crockett led all scorers in the game with his 24 points (9-of-17 FG, 3-of-6 3PFG). Crockett has now led the Lions in scoring six times this season, and has scored at least 20 points in all eight games.
- Crockett also led the team in assists (5), steals (3), and blocks (1).
- Vijay Blackmon picked up his fourth consecutive game with at least 20 points as he recorded a 22-point performance (8-of-15 FG, 4-of-8 3PFG).
- Blackmon continued to shoot it well from deep, raising his three-point field-goal percentage to 47.4 percent (9-of-19) over the last three games.
- Scales joined Blackmon and Crockett as the other two Lions to have at least three made three-point field-goals in the game. Scales finished the evening with 15 points on 5-of-11 shooting, including 3-of-7 from long-range.
- Scales secured seven rebounds in the game, finishing one behind Anthony Christian and Radosevic who each tallied eight boards in the game.
- Christian has picked up exactly eight rebounds in each of the last three games for the Lions, raising his season average to 5.1 rebounds per game.
- Lindenwood finished the game shooting 44.1 percent from three-point range (15-of-34). The 15 makes were the most in a game for the Lions since Jan. 12, 2017, a stretch of 82 games.
- Lindenwood won the rebounding battle for the third time this season, and the second time in as many games, holding a 43-29 edge on the glass.
- The Lions committed just 11 turnovers in the game, giving them seven games this season with 13 or fewer turnovers.

QUOTABLE
Head coach Kyle Gerdeman
"I thought we had a good 40-minute team effort tonight against a really solid team in Avila," said Gerdeman. "They had just beaten a team in our league last night, so we knew it would take a focused effort, and without it, tonight could have been a different ballgame. Our guys continue to prepare and work everyday to improve, and that is the most important part for us."

UP NEXT
Lindenwood will conclude the 2019 calendar year on Friday afternoon with a non-conference matinee game versus Culver-Stockton. Tip-off is slated for 2:30 p.m. inside Hyland Arena.