BOLIVAR, Mo. - The Lincoln men's basketball team held Southwest Baptist to just 18 first-half points and pulled away in the second period to defeat the Bearcats, 75-49, on Thursday (Jan. 14).
Five Blue Tigers scored in double figures, led by
Jaylon Smith, who had 16 points, six assists, two blocks and a pair of steals.
Richie Lewis finished with 13 points, seven rebounds and three assists while
Tacourrus Mattox led LU with eight rebounds while scoring 12 points and blocking two shots.
Aaron Spudich also scored 12 points and grabbed five rebounds to go with a career-high four assists.
O'Shai Clark rounded out Lincoln's double-digit scorers by chipping in 10 points to go with three assists.
Lincoln (11-5, 7-3 MIAA) opened an early 17-7 lead, and had a 24-8 advantage over Southwest Baptist (8-7, 3-6 MIAA) with 7:40 to play in the first half. The Bearcats responded by going on an 8-0 run to pull within 24-16, but the Blue Tigers closed the half by scoring 11 of the final 13 points to go into the break up 35-18.
The Blue Tigers were able to keep the Bearcats at bay in the second half, leading by as many as 31 points before finishing with the 26-point victory. Lincoln shot .491 from the floor and hit eight treys while holding SBU to .326 shooting overall and .286 shooting from long range. Lincoln also forced 13 turnovers while only giving the ball away themselves five times.
Anthony Virdure tallied three points, two boards and an assist before leaving with an injury in the first half.
DeAnthony Wilson also scored three points while
Rod Ollison,
Darrius Spencer and
Alexander Nailes each scored two points apiece. Ollison also recorded three rebounds and an assist.
The win was the second-straight for Lincoln, and also the third victory this season in Bolivar. The Blue Tigers previously beat Arkansas Monticello and Ouachita Baptist in the Southwest Baptist University Classic at the beginning of the year. The victory was also the seventh in conference play for the Blue Tigers, the most by an LU team since 2001-02, when Lincoln were the Heartland Conference regular season champions with a 7-3 league record.
The 26-point margin of victory was the highest by a Lincoln team on the road since 1995-96, when the Blue Tigers won at Fontbonne, 105-79. The last time LU beat an MIAA program on the road by at least 20 points was in 1980-81, when the Blue Tigers defeated Missouri S&T in Rolla, Mo., 91-66.
The Blue Tigers will stay on the road on Saturday (Jan. 16), as Lincoln travels to Warrensburg, Mo. to play Central Missouri at 3:30 p.m. CST.
