EVANSVILLE, IND. - The Lindenwood Men's Basketball team fell on a last second shot by SEMO with three seconds to go in the OVC Quarterfinal Round of the OVC Tournament on Thursday evening by a final score of 68-66. Anias Futrell, Jadis Jones, and Dontrez Williams all scored in double figures for Lindenwood, but the Lions ultimately came up just short of reaching the OVC Tournament Semifinal round. 

The Lions took a nine point lead into the locker room behind Futrell's 15 first half points. The Senior from St. Louis knocked down two three pointers and went a perfect 7-7 from the line to lead Lindenwood at the half. Meanwhile, Sophomore Guards Clayton Jackson and Dontrez Williams each had six points in the first half with Williams leading the Lions with seven first half rebounds. The Black and Gold outrebounded SEMO 26-19 in the opening 20 minutes of action, and had nine offensive rebounds as Jadis Jones led the way with two. With the score knotted at eight with 15:13 to go in the first half, the Lions used a 20-9 run behind nine points from Futrell to take a 28-17 lead with just under six minutes to play. Lindenwood extended their lead out to 13 points a few minutes later after Dontrez Williams knocked down a jumper with 3:14 to go, but the Redhawks cut the deficit to nine at the break by ending the first half on a 6-2 run. 

SEMO carried their momentum over into the second half as they started the half on a 15-8 run to tie the score at 42 with 13:52 to play. The largest lead on either side for the remainder of the game would be by four points in favor of the Redhawks by a score of 51-47 with 10:09 left in the second half as the two teams battled hard and continued to trade punches over the final 10 minutes of the game. Williams tied the game at 53 on a layup with 8:09 to go, and Milos Nenadic would tie the score once more at 60 on a made free throw with 4:20 remaining. Williams eventually gave Lindenwood their first lead of the half since the 13:39 mark of the second half after picking up a steal on the defensive side of the ball and scoring on a fast break layup with 1:24 to go to make the score 66-64 in favor of the Lions. However, SEMO ended the half on a 4-0 run, including a go ahead mid range jumper with three seconds to go to end Lindenwood's OVC Tournament run. 

Despite the loss, the Lions set multiple records this season and had their best overall season at the Division I level since making the transition four seasons ago. Lindenwood ends the season with an overall record of 18-15 and an OVC record of 11-9. Their 18 wins and 11 conference wins is the most for the program in the Division I Era and the Black and Gold will look to build off of this success heading into the 2026-27 season.