The Lions’ men’s basketball team recorded their first home win in Ohio Valley Conference play on Jan. 30, defeating the Southeast Missouri State Redhawks 58-54.
The win puts the team at an overall record of 8-14 in the 2023-24 season, coming in at 2-7 within the OVC.
Keenon Cole led the Lions in scoring, putting up 20 points in the game. Darius Beane was second on the team, with 14 points of his own.
The first half of play saw both teams put up 20 points or less, with Lindenwood scoring 20, and SEMO putting up 18.
The duo of Cole and Beane got scoring kicked off for Lindenwood to open the half, as Beane landed a two-point shot, and Cole had a successful free throw. Isaac Ondekane also joined in on scoring thereafter, draining a two-point shot. Throughout the remainder of the half, Cole would put up nine more points, giving him a 10 in the first portion of the match. Nathan Johnson Jr added four points for himself, two of which on a dunk, and Jaylon McDaniel had two points on a jump throw.
In the half, the Lions made 11 of their attempted 43 shots, good for a percentage of just over 25.
The Lions nearly doubled their first-half total in the second, scoring 38 points as the game winded down.
Cole kicked off the scoring in the half, draining a two-pointer, followed by a layup by Jaylon McDaniel. The team then added their first three-pointer of the game, as Keith Haymon II drained the shot in the fifth minute of the half. From there, Ondekane added six consecutive points on layups, followed by ten more from Beane, four of which came on penalty free throws.
To round out the game, in its final minutes Ondekane scored three points, with the Lions coming from behind thanks to a run of penalties to win on successful free throw attempts. In the final two minutes, the Lions added ten points on free throws, two by Johnson and eight by Cole, giving them the narrow win, 58-54.
Lindenwood shot at a 27 for 47 pace in the latter half of the match, good for a 57 percent succession rate.
The team next welcomes Western Illinois University to the Hyland Arena on Feb 1, with tipoff scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
