A late Nathan Johnson Jr three and a stout defensive stop at the buzzer gave the Lindenwood Lions men’s basketball team (8-9, 3-3 OVC) to a comeback victory over the UT Martin Skyhawks (7-10, 3-3 OVC) 82-81 on Saturday evening.
Anias Futrell was the star on the night for the second straight game, as he finished with his second consecutive double-double. Futrell notched 26 points, 10 rebounds, and three blocks. 24 of Futrell’s 26 came in the first half, and he also connected on six triples. As a team, the Lions were 10/29 from behind the arc, only the third time this season they’ve connected on double-digit treys. Markeith Browning II established himself in the paint early and finished with 18 points, five rebounds, six assists, and seven turnovers. Turnovers continue to plague Browning who has now had five or more turnovers in five straight games. Jadis Jones was the third Lion in double figures, as the freshman continued to have a solid season tallying 11 points in the win. Fellow freshman Aly Tounkara made his second straight start adding nine points and six rebounds including five on the offensive glass. The hero, Johnson Jr., had eight points and two steals for Lindenwood.
The Skyhawks got off to a hot start in the first half jumping out to a quick 7-0 lead before Futrell halted the run connecting on one of his six first-half threes. Lindenwood would take their first lead of the game with 12:28 to go in the half at 18-17 after a Futrell jumper. Both teams would trade baskets before another Futrell jumped and tied the game at 23-23 sparking an 8-0 run by the Lions capped off by yet another Futrell three. UT Martin would respond and go on a 16-4 run of their own behind Josue Grullon, Vladimer Salaridze, and Carlos Cortijo to go up 39-35 with under four minutes left in the half. The Lions would close the half on yet another run finishing off a 7-1 run on a Johnson Jr three at the halftime buzzer to take a 42-40 lead into the break.
The Skyhawks came out of the locker room and jumped on the Lions early going on a quick 14-6 run to take a 54-48 lead with 16:03 to go after a Tarence Guinyard layup. The Skyhawks would stay on the attack, and any time the Lions cut the lead the Skyhawks were there on the next possession with an answer. Twice during the second half UT Martin’s lead grew to double digits the first coming with 13:02 to go after a Salaridze layup off a pass from Cortijo.
The Lions would cut the lead to five at 64-59 after a Browning II jumper but yet again the Skyhawks were right there with an answer. This time it was a short 5-0 run to grow the lead to 10 points with 6:31 left and all hope seemed lost for Lindenwood. Headed into the under-four media timeout the Lions found themselves down 73-65 as Browning and Guinyard went back and forth with each other trading buckets trying to keep their teams in it. Browning would continue to heat up and a jumper with 1:03 left would cap a 9-3 to cut the Lions deficit to three at 77-74. Browning would add a pair of free throws to again cut the lead back to three, this time at 79-76 with 0:30 left. The Lions would be forced to foul and they sent Matija Zuzic to the line for two and would go 1/2 at the line.
On the ensuing possession for the Lions, Browning would find Jalen Bouknight who would bang home a triple cutting the lead to one at 80-79 with 0:14 left. Out of a UT Martin timeout, Afan Trnka would be fouled and sent to the line for two free throws with 0:12 left. As the tension in Hyland arena continued to rise, Trnka would only go 1/2 at the line as well and give Lindenwood an opportunity to win the game with a three. Out of a Lindenwood timeout Browning dribbled the ball up the left side of the court just inside the three point line before cutting to the right side of the free throw line before finding Johnson Jr who would catch, shot fake to get his defender in the air before burying a game winning three with six seconds to go. The Skyhawks were out of timeouts and throw up a wild layup attempt at the buzzer as Lindenwood capped off a crazy come from behind victory to improve to 3-3 in the Ohio Valley Conference and finish off a perfect 2-0 homestand.
The Lions will be back in action on Thursday, Jan. 16 at 7:30 against the University of Southern Indiana streaming exclusively on ESPN+.
