ST. CHARLES, Mo. - Lindenwood men's basketball (3-4, 0-0 OVC) came back from being down as many as 19 points to Utah Tech (3-3, 0-0 WAC) but fell short with a 66-73 loss at Hyland Arena on Monday night. The Lions shot 37.1% in the second half outscoring the Trailblazers 35-29.

"I thought the first half was a little disappointing from an effort standpoint," said head coach Kyle Gerdeman. "Utah Tech came out and took it right to us physically, but I was really pleased with the second half resilience. We got in at halftime and regrouped and we came out and played a much better 20 minutes."

Keenon Cole was the leading scorer for the Lions after posting 17 points and 11 rebounds for his first double-double of the season. He also posted his seventh straight double-digit scoring effort against Utah Tech. Darius Beane also had 14 points and eight rebounds.

As a team, Lindenwood was held to just 34.8% shooting from the field and 26.3% from three-point range. The Lions also struggled at the foul line going 13-23 (56.5%). Utah Tech led all but 00:47 seconds of the game.

Lindenwood's offense struggled early on on Monday going down 23-11 and was held to a 36.4% shooting at the under 12 minute media timeout. The Trailblazers would then use an 11-0 run around the 9:00 minute mark to spark a 34-17 lead.

Cole's eight points going into half helped cut the lead for the Lions to just 13. Utah Tech shot 53.6% from the field and 46.2% from long range in the first half while the Lions were held to just 11-34 from the field.

Coming out of the locker room, the Lions jumped out on a 14-8 run and cut the Trailblazer's lead to seven points. Cole had an early five points for the Lions after halftime. The Lions hit six of their first 10 shots of the second half.

Lindenwood continued to claw their way back including cutting the lead to 53-55 after a layup by Jeremiah Talton. Tommie Williams scored a layup with under ten minutes to go to tie the game. Williams had his best scoring output of the season after scoring six on Monday.

The Trailblazers started to pull ahead late after going up 60-68 with under five minutes remaining. Lindenwood went scoreless for nearly two minutes before Beane hit two foul shots to cut the lead to six. UT hit six of seven free throws down the stretch to secure the win.

Jaylon McDaniel had eight points for the Lions while his running mate Isaac Ondekane score five points and pulled down seven rebounds. Tanner Chrisensen had 20 points to lead Utah Tech to their third win of the season.

The Lions will be back in action on Saturday, December 2 as they travel to Idaho State for a 7:00 p.m. CT tip-off. For more information go to lindenwoodlions.com.