SCOTT MANDZIARA | Reporter

Lindenwood men’s basketball (5-1) won its third consecutive non-conference game off the back of some tough defense against Beloit University (1-3) 83-58.

The Lions got off to a hot start, scoring 17 points in the first five minutes of the game. In the last two Lindenwood games, the Lions have scored a combined 17 points in the first five minutes of play.

Leading the way for the Lions was guard Brad Newman. He finished with 18 points including going 9-9 from the free-throw line. Newman has scored double digits in every game he’s played in this year.

Beloit dressed 17 players to the Lions’ 11. The Buccaneers ended up playing 12 of those 17 players and Lindenwood played all 11. Lindenwood normally has 15 players dressed, but with injuries to Sukhman Bhinder, Jackson Price, Luka Rahdosavic, Brenon Larson-Gulsvig and Dominique Dobbs, the Lions had a much shorter bench tonight.

At halftime the Lions had their largest halftime lead of the year, 22 points.

Lindenwood forced 22 turnovers and had 15 steals, which ranked fourth all-time in school history, according to Lindenwood Athletics. The Lions offense only committed nine turnovers and are averaging under nine turnovers per game. Before the game they ranked fourth in all of division four with 8.4 turnovers per game.

The Lions offense stayed hot in the second half as they finished the game shooting 45.3 percent from the field. The defense held Beloit to shooting just 10.5 percent (2-19) from behind the arc.

Coming up next for Lindenwood will be the final non-conference game as it takes on Ecclesia College (0-8) at 2 p.m. on Saturday Dec. 2 at Hyland Arena.