USAFA, Colo. - Lindenwood men's basketball (1-3, 0-0 OVC) falls to the Falcons of Air Force (2-2, MW) by a final score of 76-58. The Lions were held to just 32% shooting on the night going 16-50 from the field.

"We never enjoy losing, but there were some bright spots for us tonight in this young season," said head coach Kyle Gerdeman. "We fought some adversity against a very good Air Force team and really battled for 40 minutes. Looking forward to see how we respond in a quick turn around tomorrow."

Keenon Cole only played five minutes in the first half after receiving an early technical foul. Coming out of the locker room in the second half, Cole scored all of his 17 points in the second going 5-8 from the field and 5-5 from the foul line. 

The Falcons opened the game on a 5-0 run before Jaylon McDaniel got to the line with two foul shots. McDaniel would go on to score the first five points for the Lions. After being down just two points, LU would go down 16-5 before Darius Beane stopped the scoring drought with three free-throws.

McDaniel's scored an and-one at the 17:21 mark, the Lions did not score a field goal until the 9:24 mark with a three from Amoro Lado. Lado would finish with five points and a team high four rebounds. 

Of the first 50 points scored in the game, 30 of them came from the foul line between both teams. Lindenwood went 20-23 from the line while Air Force went 28-39 including 10 free-throws made by Ethan Taylor. Taylor led the Falcons with 21 points with three three-pointers.

After trailing 41-29 at the half, Keith Haymon II hit a three-pointer to open the scoring for the Lions in the second. Haymon went 3-10 from the field on Thursday with two threes. Cole then went on a 7-0 run himself to cut the lead to 39-53.

The Lions shot the ball better in the second half going 10-25 from the field, good for 40% shooting. Lindenwood also hit four three-pointers in the second half going 4-12. Air Force caused 17 turnovers and scored 22 points off those.

Lindenwood and Air Force were neck and neck in the rebounding department with Air Force taking the slight advantage 33-32. Although the Lions had nine offense boards compared to just six by the Falcons.

Other key contributors for the Lions were Darius Beane with nine points on 3-5 shooting. Beane fouled out in the game only logging 19 minutes of action. McDaniel had an all-around game for LU picking up six points, four rebounds and two blocks.

Lindenwood will be back tomorrow for their second of three games at the Air Force Classic when they take on Omaha at 3:00 p.m. CT. For more information go to lindenwoodlions.com.