Lindenwood men’s basketball (10-13, 5-7 OVC) dropped a nail biter on Saturday afternoon to the Eastern Illinois Panthers (8-15, 4-8 OVC) by the score of 76-70. The loss was only the third home loss of the year, and still keeps the Lions in seventh place in the OVC with eight games remaining.
Markeith Browning II led the way for Lindenwood with a career-high 27 points to go along with seven rebounds. This was the fifth time Browning had eclipsed 20 points in a game this season.
Reggie Bass had 14 points and five assists in the loss while Anias Futrell chipped in with 12 points and a team-high nine rebounds. Jadis Jones was the final Lion in double figures with 10 points, four rebounds, and three steals.
As a team, the Lions shot 38.1% from the field and 23.5% from three, their third-lowest mark of the season. The Lions were unable to keep the Panthers bench quiet as they outscored Lindenwood’s bench 40-5.
Both teams would start fast as Eastern would lead 7-6 at the first media timeout before they would push the pressure on the Lions and use a 10-0 run to take a 22-11 lead and grow that lead to 26-13 before a Reggie Bass three halted the run. The Lions would pull within three at 32-29 following a Browning three, and that would be the score heading into the halftime break. Browning would lead all scorers with 16 points as Eastern had eight different players tally a bucket in the first 20 minutes of action.
The Lions would reclaim their first lead since it was 6-5 at 33-32 after a Bass jumper and extend it to 36-32 following a Jones free throw. Eastern would quickly score five points of their own to retake the lead at 14:53, but the game was soon tied again 42-42 after Browning hit yet another three.
The next five minutes of action saw five lead changes and four ties and neither team could pull away from the other before the Panthers took a 61-57 lead, a lead they would never again give up.
Lindenwood would make a push as they would get within two points multiple times but after a pair of Jones free throws made the game 63-61, the Panthers would go on a mini 4-0 run to take a 67-61 lead before a Reggie Bass and-one seemed to give Lindenwood back the momentum as the Lions pulled within three. But a 5-0 by the Panthers put the nail in the coffin for Lindenwood as they would fall 76-70 and suffer their seventh OVC loss of the season.
The Lions will be back in action on Thursday, Feb. 6 at 7:30 p.m. as they play on the road at UT Martin streaming exclusively on ESPN+.