SCOTT MANDZIARA | Reporter
Lindenwood’s (15-12) Chandler Diekvoss becomes the 12th member of the 1,000 points club at Lindenwood, but the Northwest Missouri State Bearcats (23-3) won a close one, 67-60.
Diekvoss needed 18 points in last night’s game and ended up leading the team with 21. He becomes the first junior to accomplish 1,000 points since Richard Rose back in 2011.
“It’s nice to achieve something like that,” Diekvoss said. “But it wouldn’t be possible to achieve without the help of my teammates and coaches.”
Northwest Missouri ranks as the top team in the MIAA and No. 10 in the entire country. The largest leads of the game (7) were at the beginning and the end for the Bearcats. The Bearcats went up 14-7 with 14:33 to play in the first half, according to Lindenwood Athletics. Previously this season when the two teams met up in Maryville, the Bearcats defeated the Lions 78-58.
The game was very fast-paced and tight for the full 40 minutes. Junior guard Jackson Price started his second consecutive game and scored 19 points and played a season-high 37 minutes. Junior guard Brad Newman has now scored double digits in five of his last six game as he finished with 11.
The Lions as a team shot 48.9 percent, according to Lindenwood Athletics. That is their fourth-best field goal percentage in MIAA games this season. Lindenwood had 32 points in the paint without its starting center, Dominique Dobbs, who is out with an injury. Dobbs started all 33 games in 2016-17 and has started 24/27 games this season. The three games he didn’t start, he didn’t play.
Coming up next for Lindenwood is the regular season finale against Missouri Western State (6-19) at at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday at Hyland Arena.
