ST. CHARLES, Mo. - Nathan Johnson Jr. was the hero for Lindenwood men's basketball (8-9, 3-3 OVC) after hitting the game-winning three-pointer with five second remaining to defeat the Skyhawks of UT Martin (7-10, 3-3 OVC) by a final score of 82-81. Lindenwood made 10 threes on Saturday afternoon which marked only the third time this season that the Lions have hit over double-digit three-pointers in a single game.

Anias Futrell had himself a night for the second consecutive game. Futrell had his second straight double-double after scoring 26 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. Of his 26 points, he scored 24 of them in the first half. Futrell made six three-pointers, the most in a game since Keith Haymon II made six vs. Little Rock last February. He also added three blocked shots.

Markeith Browning II made a living in the paint vs. the Skyhawks scoring 18 points on 7-15 shooting while going a perfect 4-4 at the foul line. Browning also grabbed five rebounds and dished out a team-high six assists. Lindenwood assisted on 14 of their 31 made shots.

Jadis Jones was the third Lion to reach double-figures after scoring 11 points on 4-7 from the field. Fellow freshman Aly Tounkara made his second straight start adding nine points and six rebounds including five on the offensive glass. The hero Johnson Jr. had eight points and two steals for Lindenwood.

The Skyhawks were forced into 12 turnovers resulting in 21 Lindenwood points. Lindenwood also battled down-low outscoring UT Martin 36-24 in paint points. Martin did edge the Lions on the glass 34-33 including 15 offensive rebounds by the Skyhawks. LU did capitalize on their 12 offensive boards scoring 20 second chance points.

Lindenwood finished the game shooting 50.0% from the field while going 10-29 from three-point range, their most attempted threes in any game this season. UT Martin was able to hit 14 threes on Saturday (45.2%) but went 13-26 at the foul line.

The first half opened up with a Skyhawks 7-0 run which was ended by the first of six Futrell threes. UT Martin opened up another seven-point lead with 15:32 left in the first half after a three from Afan Trnka. Lindenwood managed to cut the lead to two at the under 12:00 minute timeout. During the first eight minutes of the game, Futrell had 17 points while shooting 5-9 from three-point range.

Lindenwood took their first lead of the afternoon after a pull-up jumper by Futrell with 12:25 left in the half (18-17). The Lions' biggest lead was eight points before UT Martin went on a 16-4 run to go up 35-39 with under four minutes remaining. Johnson Jr. hit his first three of the night as time expired in the first half to put Lindenwood up 42-40 heading into the locker room.

Futrell had 24 points at the half, shooting 8-13 from the field and 6-11 from three. Jones was the Lions' second leading scorer with six points in the first half. UT Martin went 10-20 from three-point range in the first half while LU went 8-21.

The Skyhawks jumped on the Lions early to start the second half going on a 14-6 run to take the lead at 54-48 with 15:51 remaining. During the second half, UT Martin was up double-digits on two separate occasions before the Lions fought back.

With under four minutes remaining, Futrell made his first shot of the second half to cut the lead to 67-63. After a made UT Martin field-goal by Tarence Guinyard, Browning II scored in the paint to make it a six-point game.

Down four-points with 14 seconds remaining, Jalen Bouknight made a corner three to cut the lead to one point. After Trnka went 1-2 at the foul line to make it 79-81, Johnson Jr. made his game-winning three with five seconds remaining to lift the Lions to a one-point lead. Trnka did get a final shot off with one second remaining but it fell just short as the Lions held on to the win.

Both Lindenwood women's basketball and men's basketball went a perfect 4-0 this weekend in OVC play, the first time this has happened in school history (Division I era).

The Lions take their two-game win streak into Evansville, Ind. next Thursday, Jan. 11th when they take on Southern Indiana at 7:30 p.m. CT. For more information go to lindenwoodlions.com.