CHARLESTON, Ill. - Lindenwood men's basketball (6-8, 1-2 OVC) clawed their way back from a 16-point deficit but fell to Eastern Illinois (5-8, 1-1 OVC) by a final score of 78-74 in overtime. The Lions made to clutch three-point attempts in the final two minutes of the game, but the Panthers were able to jump out in overtime to secure the win.

"To many mistakes over 45 minutes to win in the OVC," said head coach Kyle Gerdeman. "I commend our guys fight and coming back from down 16. But we have to own it, learn from it and move on quickly to get ready for Saturday,".

Markeith Browning II scored over 20 points for the fourth time this season after dropping 21 points in the loss on 7-15 shooting including going 6-7 at the foul line. Browning also dished out a team-high five assists and had six rebounds. As a team, Lindenwood passed out 14 assists on 21 made field-goals.

In his Lindenwood return after missing the last four games, Anias Futrell made an impact scoring 18-points while going 10-12 at the foul line. Jadis Jones was the third Lion to score in double-figures scoring 10 points while adding five rebounds. Jones went 7-10 at the line, as a team LU went 25-33 at the charity stripe.

Lindenwood had 31 bench points against Eastern Illinois led by Futrell. Jalen Bouknight also had nine points with all three of his made field-goals coming from three-point range. Jordan Wildy made his first start of his Lindenwood career on Thursday and had six points and a team-high eight rebounds. EIU out-rebounded the Lions 40-38.

Both teams struggled to keep the ball on offense as they combined for 41 turnovers in the ball game. Lindenwood scored 21 points of EIU's 21 turnovers while the Panthers had 20 points off turnovers. The Panthers just edged the Lions in points in the paint, 30-28.

Jones started the game off right making only his second made three of the season. EIU quickly responded going on a 13-1 run as they led 13-4 with 15:23 remaining in the first half after a Kooper Jacobi three-pointer.

Back-and-forth both teams went as the Lions managed to cut the lead back to three points after a Futrell layup (17-14) with 7:26 remaining. Lindenwood regained the lead in the first half after a foul shot by Futrell (20-19), but EIU ended the half on a 16-7 run to go into the locker room up 35-27.

Zion Fruster for Eastern Illinois scored 20 of his 29 points in the first half for EIU. Lindenwood shot 8-24 from the field in the first half, but managed to go 9-12 from the foul line. EIU shot 13-28 from the field in the first 20 minutes and went 4-7 from three. Wildy and Futrell both led the Lions at halftime with six points each.

Eastern Illinois jumped out to their largest lead of the evening at the 13:44 mark after starting the half on a 13-5 run, leading Lindenwood by 16-points (48-32). Lindenwood started the second half shooting 1-10 from the field.

Lindenwood trailed by double-digits for the next five minutes, but cut the lead to nine points after three made free throws by Futrell with 8:49 remaining. After EIU pushed the lead by to 12 points (4:28), Lindenwood went on their run with the help of a three by Bouknight to cut the lead to seven at 58-51.

Aly Tounkara got in on the action with a big-time put back dunk on the next possession. After a driving layup by Browning to cut it to two, Bouknight made another three with 1:23 remaining giving Lindenwood the lead at 60-59. EIU made one free throw on the other end to tie the game at 60, but Futrell nailed his only three of the ball game to put LU ahead 63-60 with 40 seconds remaining. With just three second remaining Obadiah Curtis made a jumper off a loose ball to force overtime in Charleston. 

Eastern Illinois started the overtime period on a 9-2 run capped off by a layup by Rodolfo Bolis with 1:17 remaining. EIU shot 4-6 from the floor in OT and managed to hit their foul shots late in the period going 6-9. Browning (five points) and Futrell (five points) scored all 10 points in the overtime period as LU fell on Thursday.

Lindenwood will be back in action on Saturday, Jan. 4th at SIUE starting at 3:30 p.m. CT. For more information go to lindenwoodlions.com.