ST. CHARLES, Mo. - Lindenwood men's basketball (3-6, 0-0 OVC) lose a tough game at home by a final score of 67-72 against cross-state opponent Kansas City (4-6, 0-0 SL). The Lions trailed by as many as 10 with under two minutes to go before making a late push.

"I thought we competed hard and that our mentality was in the right spot. That is important to us this time of the year," said head coach Kyle Gerdeman on Saturday's loss. " Overall, UMKC has a really nice team and over the course of 40 minutes we just made too many mistakes."

Darius Beane was the Lions' leading scorer for the second game in a row with 22 points on 7-15 shooting while also making 8-9 from the line. He also added six boards and two assists.

Despite not scoring, Colin Ruffin had a team-high eight rebounds while posting a season high four steals. He also dished out three assists in 23 minutes of action. As a team the Lions forced UMKC into 16 turnovers while coming up with eight steals.

In a very even first half, both teams battled back and forth through the first eight minutes of action. Beane scored the first four points for Lindenwood as the teams were tied at 13. The Lions had a five point advantage at the 21-16 mark with Beane leading the way with eight points.

Kansas City went on a run to end the first half as the scored was tied 28-28. Lindenwood shot 10-28 from the field in the first while making 3-11 threes. The Roos scored 18 of their 28 points in the first half from three-point range. Anderson Kopp had 10 points for UMKC at the midway point.

Keenon Cole scored the first six points for the Lions coming out of half time to secure his ninth straight double-digit scoring effort. Cole scored 16 in the loss while going 5-12 from the field, picking up three boards along the way.

At the under 12 media timeout, Kansas City held a one point lead 44-45. The Roos would eventually extend their lead to 10 points with just under two minutes with the help of Cameron Faas who scored 18. Faas shot 6-10 from distance along with grabbing four rebounds.

The Lions battled back late in the game to cut the lead to four points, but ran out of time to drop their third game in a row. LU shot 39.2% from the field throughout the game while UMKC shot 42.9%. The Roos made 14 triples in the win.

Isaac Ondekane had another solid outing posting eight points and four rebounds for Lindenwood. Jeremiah Talton also added eight points including two threes. Kopp and Faas were the leading scorers for Kansas City.

The Lions will be back in action on Tuesday, Dec. 12 at 7:00 p.m. as they host Avila (Mo.) at Hyland Arena. For more information go to lindenwoodlions.com.