OXFORD, Miss. - It was a tale of two halves for Lindenwood men's basketball (3-6, 0-0 OVC) on Saturday as the Lions fell to #23/20 Ole Miss (8-1, 0-0 SEC) by a final score of 86-53. Lindenwood trailed by only six points heading into halftime, but the Rebels outscored Lindenwood by 27 points during the second half.

"Impressive first half by our guys I thought," said head coach Kyle Gerdeman. "Especially once we lost Anias (Futrell). I thought we had a lot of guys step up and play well. Credit to Ole Miss in the second half, they used their size advantage on both ends of the floor, and really wore us down."

Reggie Bass was the lone Lion to score in double-figures on Saturday with 10 points matching a season-high for the junior guard. Bass shot 3-8 from the field while hitting two three-pointers. He also pulled down a season-high six rebounds while adding two assists.

The freshman duo of Jadis Jones and Clayton Jackson both provided a spark as they started together for the second consecutive game. Jones scored nine points in the loss while adding five rebounds. Jackson shot 3-6 from the floor, scoring eight points and dished out two assists.

Nathan Johnson Jr. and Markeith Browning II each chipped in seven points. Browning shot only 2-12 from the floor but had a team-high eight rebounds and three assists. Johnson contributed seven of Lindenwood's 24 bench points on Saturday.

Lindenwood shot 35.3% from the floor on Saturday which marked their second lowest shooting percentage of the season. Ole Miss shot 31-60 from the floor which was good for a 51.7% field-goal percentage. After starting off 5-10 from three-point range, the Lions finished shooting 6-21.

The Rebels forced Lindenwood into 15 turnovers where Ole Mis scored 12 points. Lindenwood's defense created seven turnovers and had five steals resulting in 10 points. Ole Miss' offense went heavy in the paint in the second half resulting in 38 paint points to just 18 by the Lions.

During the first half, Lindenwood held a three-point advantage at the 14:02 mark after a three-point jumper by Johnson Jr. (16-13). After back-and-forth blows, Lindenwood held a four-point lead with just over seven minutes remaining in the first half after two Bass free throws.

The Rebels after that point would go on a 9-1 run to take back the lead at the 5:02 minute mark by a score of 33-29. Lindenwood would keep it close, but would find themselves down six at the break 39-33. The Lions shot 38.5% from the field in the first half including five triples.

Ole Miss had their first double-digit lead of the night with 15:01 remaining after two foul shots from Dre Davis. Jackson cut the lead to eight points (50-42) with just under 14 to play, but Ole Miss would go on a 12-0 run to stretch the lead to 20 points.

Lindenwood's offense was never able to catch up to the Rebels as they stretched out their lead to over 30 points down the stretch. The Lions were held to just 20 points in the second half while shooting 8-25 from the floor. Ole Miss took advantage in the paint scoring 24 of their 47 second half points down low.

Starting on Tuesday, Dec. 10th the Lions will have a stretch of four straight home games. Lindenwood will battle Harris-Stowe at 6:00 p.m. CT inside Hyland Arena on Tuesday. For more information go to lindenwoodlions.com.