ST. CHARLES, Mo. - Lindenwood men's basketball (4-6, 0-0 OVC) picked up their third home victory of the season after a 99-53 performance over Harris-Stowe (4-8, -3 AMC) on Tuesday. It marked the third time the Lions have scored over 90 points this season and third time Lindenwood has shot over 50.0% from the field.
"Overall I was pleased with the effort over 40 minutes," said head coach
Kyle Gerdeman. "I thought we got off to a little of a slow start but our energy was in the right spot. We bounced back pretty good and there was a stretch in the first half where we played really well and opened the lead up. We came out in the second half and did some things well to maintain the lead."
Tuesday saw Lindenwood post five double-digit scorers in the win over the Hornets, led by senior guard
Nathan Johnson Jr. who scored a career-high 19 points on 7-11 shooting. Johnson led the team shooting 4-5 from three-point range. As a team, Lindenwood shot 10-20 (50.0 3FG%) from long range which was their highest percentage from three this year.
Reggie Bass scored in double-figures for the second consecutive game as the junior transfer scored 15 points on 4-7 shooting including two three pointers. Bass also went 5-7 at the foul line while grabbing five rebounds and adding a team-high five assists.
Markeith Browning II also had five assists in the win. Lindenwood had 22 total assists which is there second most this season and third time LU has passed for over 20 assists in a game in 2024-25.
Aly Tounkara and
Jalen Bouknight both had 12 points off the bench for Lindenwood. Of Lindenwood's 99 points, 57 of them came from the bench. Bouknight shot 4-7 from the field in 15 minutes of action while grabbing four rebounds. Tounkara scored a career-high 12 points and grabbed eight rebounds as it marked his first double-digit scoring effort of his career.
Jadis Jones also scored 11 points and grabbed six boards.
Lindenwood shot 51.4% from the floor going 37-72. Their 72 shots taken were the most since Lindenwood had 73 against UT Martin last season on Feb. 22, 2024. Harris-Stowe was held to 32.2% shooting for the entire game including 28.0% (7-25) from three-point range.
The LU defense created 23 turnovers on Tuesday night adding 14 steals and five blocked shots. Nine different Lions had a steal in the win including a team-high three by
Colin Ruffin.
Jordan Wildy helped on the glass adding eight points and nine rebounds. LU out-rebounded the Hornets 47-31 including 15-7 on the offensive boards.
Lindenwood held just a six-point advantage with 11:42 remaining in the first half. LU started the game shooting 6-16, but were 4-6 from long range. Johnson Jr. started the evening going a perfect 2-2 from three. The Lions would go on an 18-8 run over the next seven minutes to extend their lead to 16.
Heading into halftime, Lindenwood led 48-30 while shooting 51.4% from the field including 7-13 from downtown. Bass led the way with 10 points at the break while Bouknight added seven off the bench. LU had 22 points in the paint at half and held Harris-Stowe to 38.7% shooting from the field.
Harris-Stowe started the second half holding the Lions to 2-7 shooting but the Lions still found themselves leading by 20. LU again went on a 16-7 run to open the lead back up to 71-42 with 10:51 remaining. Johnson Jr.'s hot shooting continued as he scored 13 of his 19 points in the second half. Tounkara also scored all 12 of his points in the final 20 minutes.
Lindenwood eventually ended the second half outscoring the Hornets 51-23 with a final score of 99-53. LU shot 51.4% from the field in the second period and went 12-19 from the Line as Lindenwood improved to 4-6 on the season.
It is a Saturday double-header for men's and women's basketball on Saturday, Dec. 14th as LU takes on Omaha (Women's) and IU Indy (Men's) starting at 1:00 p.m. CT inside Hyland Arena. For more information go to lindenwoodlions.com.
