ST. CHARLES, Mo. - Lindenwood men's basketball (8-16, 2-9 OVC) fell on Thursday in Hyland Arena vs. Tennessee State (14-10, 7-4 OVC) by a final score of 65-55. The Lions were held to just 30.2% from the field, their second lowest of the season.

"I thought for the majority of 40 minutes we did a pretty good job," said head coach Kyle Gerdeman. "We have talked about this before, but it is a handful a plays. We are fighting as hard as we can fight and playing as hard as we can, For us to get over the top and get into the win column we have to lock in on every possession and every play."

Keenon Cole was the leading scorer for the Lions after scoring 16 points. The Tennessee State defense kept Cole in check after holding him to just 4-13 from the field, but he did shoot eight foul shots making seven.

Colin Ruffin was an offensive spark off the bench scoring eight points, his most since scoring eight vs. Avila in December. Ruffin went 2-5 from the floor while shooting 4-6 at the foul line. He also grabbed four rebounds and dished out two assists.

Lindenwood's offense started the game off slow going 0-9 to start the game. The Lions scored their first six points at the foul line before Jeremiah Talton splashed a three for the first field goal of the game. It also cut the TSU lead to 9-12.

Cole was still aggressive despite struggling from the field as he tied the game at 13 all after a pair of foul shots. Ruffin scored six of his points in the first half after tying the game at 22.

Tennessee State's Marcus Fitzgerald went 3-4 on threes in the first half helping the Tigers regain the lead. TSU's biggest lead in the first half was only six points while LU never backed down forcing 10 lead changes and five ties.

Both teams would head into the locker room with the scoring being 27-28. Cole scored 10 points in the first half while Talton and Ruffin both added six. Darius Beane missed the majority of the first half after picking up two early fouls. Lindenwood was held to 8-22 shooting in the first half.

The Lions continued to struggle on offense to start the second half going 0-5 before Jaylon McDaniel hit a mid-range jumper. TSU's EJ Bellinger gave the Tigers momentum after a and-one and a breakaway dunk on back-to-back possession to give TSU a 31-39 advantage.

Lindenwood struggled from the floor in the second half only shooting 5-21 from the field. They scored the majority of their points from the foul line shooting 17-23 in the second half and 26-36 for the entire game. It marked the most made FT and most attempted in a game this season by LU.

Bellinger extend the Tigers' lead once against after a small run by Lindenwood. He pushed the lead back to double-digits after four straight points. He ended the game as TSU's leading scorer with 13 points. The Tigers had three double-digit scorers Thursday night.

Beane helped get it as close as five points late in the second half with just over three minutes to play, but it was not enough as the Tigers pulled away to escape with a win inside Hyland Arena. TSU shot 44.0% in the second half and went 14-16 from the line to close out the game.

Lindenwood will be back in action on Saturday, Feb. 10 to close out a four-game home stand against Tennessee Tech starting at 3:30 p.m. CT. For more information go to lindenwoodlions.com.