ST. CHARLES, Mo. – Lindenwood men's basketball (10-12, 5-6 OVC) defeated the SIUE Cougars (14-8, 7-5 OVC) on Thursday night by a final score of 65-63 in a packed Hyland Arena as LU improves to 9-2 at home. This marked the first ever win for Lindenwood against SIUE as they erased a 17-point second half deficit to improve to 10-12 on the year.

Reggie Bass scored a season-high 20 points on Thursday and led the Lions to victory by going 4-4 from three-point territory and 6-8 (75%) from the free throw line. Bass added four rebounds and two assists for Lindenwood. He has now scored over 10+ points eight times, and his first in his last four games.

Anias Futrell added 10 points of his own (all in the first half) and posted nine boards. Despite not being able to knock down a three-point attempt (0-7 3FG), Futrell found different ways to score especially on the offensive glass adding five of his nine rebounds on offense. He also led the team on Thursday with three steals.

Aly Tounkara had his first double-digit rebounding effort in his young career against SIUE after posting 10 rebounds while adding five points off the bench. Tounkara has played at least 19 minutes in eight straight games. Defensively, he added two blocks and two steals.

Markeith Browning II and Jadis Jones both scored in double-figures in the win. Browning did a little of everything for LU scoring 10 points while adding five rebounds, four assists and a season-high three blocks. Jones also chipped in 11 points while going 5-6 at the charity stripe.

Lindenwood shot 20-52 (38.5%) from the floor and 6-22 (27.3%) from deep while making 30 trips to the foul line.. The Lions forced 15 turnovers on Thursday night and had 16 fast break points.

The first half saw Lindenwood jump ahead early first thanks to a pair of buckets from Futrell and two deep threes from Reggie Bass, but the Cougars put the presser on coming back early as the lead 16-15 with just over 10 to play in the first half. SIUE quickly used a 6-0 run to go up four points, but Bass added another three to cut the lead to one.

The Lions got into foul trouble late in the half which allowed SIUE to mount a 9-0 run, extending their lead to 29-20. Another late first half 5-0 run by SIUE pushed the Cougar lead going into halftime as LU found themselves down 39-26 at the break.

Bass led Lindenwood in first-half scoring with 10 points, nine from behind the arch. As a team, the Lions were 8-28 from the floor (28.6%) and 3-16 (18%) from deep. Futrell had 10 points of his own and had four rebounds. Aly Tounkara had four rebounds as well in nine minutes on the floor.  

The Lions outscored the Cougars 8-2 in the first five minutes of the second half, trimming the score to 45-36. A pair of 5-0 runs for the Lions shrunk the deficit even further and swung the momentum the way of Lindenwood.

Immediately following a media timeout Bass hit his fourth three pointer of the game at 11:27, tightening the score to 49-44. With just over four minutes to play, Bass went to the foul line for four free throws. The play was reviewed and found that Bass was fouled in the shooting motion and that Ray'Sean Taylor for SIUE would pick up a technical foul giving Bass four shots. He would make all four giving the Lions their first lead at 57-55 since early in the first half.

SIUE trailed by four after two made free throws by Jones put the Lions ahead 64-60 with 10 seconds left. The Cougar's got a three-pointer to fall with under three seconds left putting Bass at the line after a quick foul. He would make the first and miss the second, and SIUE's full court heave dropped short as LU picked up the 65-63 victory.

The Lions shot better in the second half going 12-24 (50.0%) from the floor and 12-18 at the foul line. Lindenwood also tightened up their defense holding SIUE to 27.8% shooting in the final 20 minutes. LU outscored SIUE 39-24 in the second half.  

The Lions return to Hyland Arena on Saturday, Feb. 1st at 3:30 p.m. CT when they battle with conference rival, Eastern Illinois. For more information, go to lindenwoodlions.com.