ST. CHARLES, Mo. Lindenwood men's basketball (8-15, 2-8 OVC) comes up short at home on Thursday night against Western Illinois (14-8, 7-2 OVC) by a final score of 79-71. Lindenwood had three double-digit scorers on the evening and shot 45.2% from the field.

"I liked the way we competed in the second half," said head coach Kyle Gerdeman. "The first half we just needed to be a lot better defensively and that really cost us tonight. To be in a three-point game with 1:00 left, I thought that said a lot about our determination at this point in the season. We are going to keep pushing."

Keenon Cole scored 24 on Thursday which was his second consecutive 20 point performance and his fourth in his last five games. He shot 9-19 from the field while pulling down a team-high seven rebounds.

Darius Beane also dropped 19 points on 8-16 shooting from the field while going a perfect 3-3 from the line. Beane's offense late in the game helped the Lions cut the lead to three. Jaylon McDaniel also scored in double digits with 12 points on 5-5 shooting.

Both teams started out the game hot with Lindenwood and Western both shooting 3-6 to start the game. Western Ill. jumped out to an early lead but Cole helped the Lions cut the lead to one after a three with 14:13 left in the first half.

Jesiah West scored 21 points for the Leathernecks on Thursday including 10 in the first seven minutes of the game. JJ Kalakon also had a game-high 25 points that helped WIU push their lead in the first half. As a team, WIU started the game shooting 6-7 from three.

Lindenwood went 7-8 from the floor down the stretch of the first half, but Western Illinois also stayed hot shooting 9-10 from the floor to stretch the lead to 38-48 at the half. As a team, WIU went 8-10 from three.

Western Illinois kept a double-digit lead for the majority of the second half up until the final four minutes of action. Beane started the scoring run with a mid-range jumper cutting the lead to nine at 74-65 with 2:40 to play. A steal by Tommie Williams led to two foul shots by Cole cutting the lead to 66-74.

Lindenwood's defense forced a five second call on the Leathernecks which allowed Beane to get a and-one with 1:11 left cutting the lead to five. He was then fouled on the next possession hitting both of his foul shots cutting the lead to three.

After a foul by LU, Ryan Myers missed a FT but West from WIU pulled down an offensive rebound to keep possession and sealed the win for the Leathernecks. WIU eventually ran out the clock winning 79-71.

Keith Haymon II and Isaac Ondekane both had six points. As a team, Lindenwood shot 45.2% from the field but were held to 3-16 from three. The Lions did hold the third best rebounding team in the nation to 34 rebounds while pulling down 12 offensive rebounds of their own.

Lindenwood will be back in action at Hyland Arena on Thursday, Feb. 8 at 7:30 p.m. CT vs. Tennessee State. For more information go to lindenwoodlions.com.