The Lindenwood men’s basketball team defeated Harris-Stowe State University on Tuesday evening by a score of 99-53. The team fell just one point shy of their second consecutive 100-point win of the 2024-25 season.
The Lions saw production from up and down their roster, with five different players recording double-digit point totals. Led by Nathan Johnson Jr with 19, with Reggie Bass putting up 15. Both Jalen Bouknight and Aly Tounkara scored 12, and Jadis Jones put up 10. Every Lion that played in the game scored at least once as well, with six more Lions adding their names to the scoring pilon throughout the game. Jordan Wildy and Jaylon McDaniel just missed out on the double-digit totals with nine and eight respectively, with Clayton Jackson chipping in six points of his own. Colin Ruffin scored three, with Markeith Browning and RJ Horry scoring two points each. For Tounkara specifically, all of his 12 points were scored in the last 10 minutes of the second half.
Lindenwood came out of the gate scoring 48 points in the opening half, with shooting percentages sitting right above 50 for both field goals and three-point shots for the team. The Lions scuffled a bit with free throws, making just three of eight, though they kept a strong lead heading into the locker room for halftime. The defense held the Hornets to just 30 points throughout the first half.
The second quarter saw greater scoring totals from the Lions offense, and their defense holding the Hornets to fewer points. Lindenwood was able to put up 51 points in the final 20 minutes of play, and held the Hornets to just 23 scores over that time. The team improved vastly upon their free throw percentage, shooting successfully well over 60 percent of the time in that regard. Their field goal percentage sat nearly the same as the first half, though their three-point percentage dropped to just above 40. The team’s success from the penalty line came largely from three contributors, Bass, Tounkara and Bouknight, who combined for 12/17 in their attempts on the evening.
Defensively, the Lions pulled down 47 rebounds in the win, led by Tounkara with eight, again in only 10 minutes of play. Wildy also put up eight, as the duo narrowly topped Jones in that regard, who had six of his own.
The win over Harris-Stowe now moves Lindenwood to a 3-5 record, with a perfect 3-0 record at home. The Lions now welcome IUPUI into the Hyland Arena on Saturday, Dec. 14 as their final tune-up before entering Ohio Valley Conference play. That game is slated to start at 3:30 p.m. that afternoon, proceeding the women’s game earlier that day.
