JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. - Anthony Virdure had 20 points before the first half was over and finished with 32, but the Lincoln men's basketball team fell to Missouri Southern, 85-67, on Thursday (Jan. 21).

The contest featured a battle between two of the MIAA's leading scorers in MSSU's Taevaunn Prince (26.2 ppg.) and LU's Virdure (21.4). Virdure won the scoring competition, hitting five shots from long distance while also grabbing five rebounds and dishing two assists. Prince ended his night with 29 points, with 13 coming at the free throw line.

Virdure converted an old-fashioned three-point play to give Lincoln (11-7, 7-5 MIAA) an 8-7 lead 14:28 remaining in the first half. That ended up being the Blue Tigers' final lead of the night, however, as Missouri Southern (11-7, 8-4 MIAA) went on a 9-0 run to take a 16-8 lead it would not relinquish. The Lions led by as many as 11 in the opening half before going into the intermission with a 37-29 advantage.

The teams exchanged three-pointers to begin the second half, with Richie Lewis' trey sparking Lincoln on a 10-2 run that pulled the Blue Tigers to within 42-39 of the Lions. MSSU hit a pair of treys on its next two possessions to re-take a nine-point lead, but a layup by Tacourrus Mattox and a three from Jaylon Smith moved LU back to within four. Following a two-pointer by the Lions, Smith made yet another trey to once again cut the MSSU lead down to three, 50-47. Both teams were hot from beyond the arc, as each squad knocked down 11 treys on the evening.

Missouri Southern scored 11 unanswered points after Smith's trey, and maintained a double-digit advantage for the rest of the evening. The Lions shot .538 from the floor and .560 from three-point land while Lincoln was .357 from the field and .395 from long distance. MSSU also held a 38-30 edge in rebounding, thought Lincoln forced 10 steals and won the turnover battle, 9-15.

Lewis also had quite a night, scoring 11 points to go with six rebounds, six steals, five assists and a block. Smith, meanwhile, scored 12 and grabbed four boards to go with a pair of assists. O'Shai Clark led LU with seven rebounds and scored six points while dishing three assists. Mattox and Chase Morfeld rounded out the scoring with three points apiece, with Mattox adding a block. Aaron Spudich rejected two shots and pulled down a pair of rebounds.

The Blue Tigers will remain at home on Saturday (Jan. 23) to host Pittsburg State at 3:30 p.m. CST. Lincoln will partner with Coaches vs. Cancer to host a Pink Out game, with fans encouraged to show their support for both the Blue Tigers and the fight against cancer by wearing pink to that contest.