ST. CHARLES, Mo. - Lindenwood men's basketball (8-20, 2-13 OVC) scored 82 points in the loss at home against the Skyhawks of UT Martin (18-10, 11-4 OVC) by a final score of 106-82. It marked the most points by the Lions against a Division I team this season.

"I thought it was good to see our offense come around a little bit," said head coach Kyle Gerdeman. "We feel like in the last four or five games we have been getting a little better offensively. It was good to see some of the things we worked on pay off especially late in the year."

Keenon Cole scored 14 of his team-high 17 points in the first half against UT Martin. He shot 5-14 from the field while making two three pointers. Darius Beane and Jeremiah Talton scored 13 and 12 points respectively as the Lions shot 45.2% from the field on Thursday.

Cole got off to a good start on Thursday with a and-one basket to get the scoring underway. Lindenwood opened up the game on a 9-4 run, extending that later to a 15-8 lead. The Lions started the game 6-9 from the floor with Cole scoring 12 points in the first seven minutes of the game.

UT Martin went on their best scoring run of the evening scoring 10 straight to take the lead from the Lions at 22-21 with 10:59 to play. After Lindenwood's hot start, they would go 1-8 from the floor. Beane's jumper cut the lead to three points to stop the drought.

The Lions continued their hot stretch in the first half hitting back-to-back threes by Tommie Williams and Nathan Johnson Jr. which gave LU the 29-28 advantage. UT Martin's Jordan Sears started to get hot from three to give the Skyhawks to lead right back.

Lindenwood entered the locker room trailing 47-40. LU shot 43.2% from the field in the first half including making six three pointers. UT Martin scored 28 of their 47 points in the paint. The Skyhawks shot 57.6% in the first half.

Lions opened up the second half on a 4-0 to cut the lead back to three, but Sears' third three of the evening pushed the lead back to 10. UT Martin's offense started the second half hot extending their lead to 14 points. LU started the second half 4-10 from the field.

The Skyhawks opened the lead to over 20 points at the eight minute media timeout by a score of 82-61. Sears and Jacob Crews helped the Skyhawks to their 11th Ohio Valley Conference win of the season. The duo combined for 65 points while Sears was one rebound and one assist away from a triple double.

Jaylon McDaniel scored 10 points marking his second straight game scoring in double-digits. Colin Ruffin scored all of his 11 points in the second half shooting 5-7 from the field. Williams and Johnson Jr. both had eight off the bench.

Lindenwood will host Little Rock on Saturday for their final home game of the season and will celebrate senior day starting at 3:30 p.m. CT. For more information go to lindenwoodlions.com.