CAPE GIRARDEAU, MO. - The Lindenwood Men's Basketball team (11-7, 5-2 OVC) snapped their two game losing streak on Thursday night with a statement win on the road at SEMO on the national stage with a 88-76 victory. Anias Futrell recorded his first double-double of the season and led all scorers with a game-high 28 points on 8-13 shooting and pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds. Missouri natives Dontrez Williams and Jadis Jones also had great performances tonight in the win as Williams dropped 22 points and added seven steals while Jones picked up his sixth double-double of the season as he scored 20 points and grabbed 10 boards. Futrell, Williams, and Jones become the first trio to each score 20 or more points in the same game since Kevin Caldwell Jr., Cam Burrell, and Chris Childs all scored 20+ points against Little Rock on February 25, 2023. 

After SEMO scored a bucket to put them up 5-4 with 17:40 to go in the opening half, the Lions settled in and took over the rest of the first half going on a 22-3 run over the next six minutes to take a commanding 26-7 lead with 11:47 left in the first half. Dontrez Williams recorded three steals during the big run with all three steals leading to layups and dunks on the other end for the Black and Gold. Jadis Jones scored 11 points during the run, followed closely by Williams who had six, and Anias Futrell who had five including a three pointer. The Lions defense didn't allow a basket for nearly seven minutes of game time and led 26-10 with just under nine minutes to play. Lindenwood used their second big run of the half to take a 45-18 lead into the locker room behind a 12-3 run that was sparked by Futrell who knocked down two more threes to finish the first half with 15 points on 4-6 shooting from the three point line. The Lions limited the Redhawks to 21.9% from the floor in the opening 20 minutes of play and forced nine turnovers that led to 10 points for the Black and Gold. 

In the second half, Futrell scored five of the first six points for the Lions and converted on his fifth three pointer of the game as Lindenwood extended their lead to 29 at 51-22 with 17:48 to go in the contest. Following the Futrell three, Williams gave the Lions their largest lead of the game at 53-22 after a made layup, but SEMO would begin to chip away at the deficit and cut the Lindenwood lead to 59-42 with 12:54 left in the second half following a 20-6 run that spanned over four minutes. However, a few possessions later Milos Nenadic found Williams on the right wing with two seconds to go on the shot clock and Williams buried the three pointer as the shot clock expired to give LU a 20 point lead at 62-42 with 12:01 left. Williams would connect from three point range less than a minute later to stop all momentum that the Redhawks had going, but SEMO still continued to fight back. The Redhawks eventually cut the Lion lead down to seven with 1:10 remaining in the game, but a technical foul was assessed to SEMO's Landren Blocker with 50 seconds remaining and Anias Futrell hit two big free throws to put the Lions back up by double digits for the final time as Lindenwood held on to defeat the Redhawks 88-76 and improve to 2-1 on the road in the OVC. 

The Redhawks outscored the Lions 58-43 in the final twenty minutes of play, but the free throw shooting was crucial down the stretch as Lindenwood attempted 26 free throws in the second half and knocked down five of their final six free throw attempts over the last three minutes of the game to seal the win. With the victory tonight, Lindenwood improves to 5-2 in the OVC and is in a three way tie for second place in the Conference. The Lions will wrap up their road trip on Saturday afternoon as they will travel to the leaders of the OVC in UT Martin. Tip off from Martin, Tennessee is set for 3:30 p.m.