ST. CHARLES, Mo. - Lindenwood men's basketball (7-12, 1-5 OVC) dropped a hard loss at home to Eastern Illinois (9-10, 3-3 OVC) by a final score of 68-78. Lindenwood shot 49.0% from the field and 47.8% from three point range in one of their best shooting nights of the season.

"Obviously a tough one to lose," said head coach Kyle Gerdeman. "I thought we really bounced back with the right mentality after a really average  performance on Thursday. I thought offensively we found some things that we have been working on the last few weeks that worked for us tonight."

Keenon Cole continued to be the go to guy for the Lions after scoring 21 points on 7-8 shooting including three threes. He also grabbed six rebounds and had a season high three steals. Cole led the way for a team that shot 11-23 from three.

Tommie Williams and Keith Haymon II were sparks off the bench chipping in season best performances with 14 and 16 points respectively. Williams was all over the floor picking up six rebounds and dishing out seven assists, the most by an LU player this season.

Eastern Illinois' offense got off to a hot start on Saturday afternoon after Naykel Shelton started the game off on an 11-0 run making three consecutive threes. EIU went 8-13 from deep in the first half.
 
Williams ended the scoring drought for the Lions with their first field goal at the 15:35 mark. LU started to heat up from deep after threes from Haymon II and Cole to cut the lead to 13-16.
 
Lindenwood went 8-13 from three-point range in the first half including three from Cole. Cole was a perfect 3-3 from the floor in the first 20 minutes including going 4-4 from the foul line.
 
After Lindenwood cut the lead to two points at the 16-18 mark, EIU went on a 5-0 run pushing their lead to seven. Williams' 12 points off the bench in the first half helped the Lions cut into their deficit at halftime at 39-43. He ended the first half with an offensive put-back.
 
The Lions shot 54.5% from the field in the first half going 12-22. They also posted 10 assists in the first 20 minutes including four from Colin Ruffin. Cole and Williams combined for 27 points going into halftime.

Both teams battled in the second half which saw six lead changes and seven ties. Lindenwood scored four straight points to tie the game at 43-43. Jaylon McDaniel scored all six of his points in the first five minutes of the second half.

Haymon and Williams did their part in the second shooting a combine 4-9 from the floor including three threes from Haymon. His five triples tonight tied his season high that he shot against William and Mary earlier this season.

Lindenwood's offense kept pushing through the second half but big buckets from Kyndall Davis and Tiger Booker helped lift the Panthers over the Lions. Booker, Davis and Shelton all scored 16 for the Panthers who had four double-digit scorers.

Lindenwood shot 44.4% from the field in the second half while only going 3-10 from three point range. Their 11 made threes are the most made in a game this season. Lindenwood also only shot four foul shots in the second half compared to 11 in the first.

The Lions will be back in action on Thursday, Jan. 25 as they travel to Little Rock to take on the Trojans in Little Rock, Arkansas. For more information go to lindenwoodlions.com.