JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. - The Lincoln men's basketball team shot .492 from the floor and .480 from three-point range to roll to an 86-61 victory over Northeastern State on Monday night (Dec. 14). The Blue Tigers improved to 6-3 on the season, 2-1 in MIAA play and 4-0 at home with the win, with Anthony Virdure leading the way with 26 points.

Lincoln used a 22-7 run mid-way through the first half to take control of the game, beginning with a trey from Jaylon Smith, who scored 11 first half points before leaving the game with an injury. Virdure scored seven points on that run before Richie Lewis put LU up, 31-13, with a pair of free throws. Lewis ended his night with seven points, five rebounds, six steals, five assists and a block. Virdure, meanwhile, finished with six boards and three assists.

The Blue Tigers took a 46-23 lead into halftime and led by at least 19 points during the entire second half. The Blue Tigers blocked eight shots and forced Northeastern State (1-7, 0-4 MIAA) into 19 turnovers, finishing with 11 steals overall. The RiverHawks held a slight 40-39 edge in rebounding, but were held to just .328 shooting from the floor and only three made treys on the night.

Tacourrus Mattox had four of Lincoln's eight blocks and scored 12 points to go with eight rebounds. Chase Morfeld was next on the scoring chart with nine points and dished three assists while grabbing a trio of rebounds while Jeremy Jackson added eight points and O'Shai Clark scored six to go with a pair of steals. Alexander Nailes had a block and matched Darrius Spencer and Aaron Spudich with two points while Rod Ollison, who grabbed three rebounds and blocked a shot, made a free throw to round out the scoring.

The Blue Tigers are now 4-0 at home for the first time since winning their first seven games at Jason Gym in 2000-01. Lincoln also has six wins for the first time since 2007-08 and are off their best nine-game start to a year since starting that 2000-01 season 7-2. The Blue Tigers also won back-to-back conference games for the first time since defeating Texas-Permian Basin and Oklahoma Panhandle State in consecutive games in 2008-09.

Lincoln will return home on Friday (Dec. 18) for its stiffest test yet this season, as the Blue Tigers host MIAA-leading Northwest Missouri at 7:30 p.m. CST. All Jefferson City Public School students will receive free admission to that contest, with JCPS employees receiving a discounted rate of $3.