BOLIVAR, Mo. - Jaylon Smith scored 24 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, and Rod Ollison and Richie Lewis finished with 16 and 12 points, respectively, as the Lincoln men's basketball team defeated Minnesota-Crookston, 76-65, on Saturday (Nov. 12) to improve to 2-0 on the season.

Lincoln shot .474 from the floor and held UMC to .396 shooting to win its second game of the season-opening SBU Bearcat Classic. The Blue Tigers forced the Golden Eagles into 16 turnovers and scored 44 points in the paint while holding UMC to just 24. Ollison scored 14 of his points in the second half while Smith added 11 as Lincoln pulled away from a 35-32 halftime lead for the 11-point victory.

In addition to his double-double, Smith tallied a pair of assists and two steals in 37 minutes of work. Lewis led the Blue Tigers with six assists and four assists while grabbing three rebounds. Ollison had two rebounds and shot 8-for-9 from the floor.

Lincoln led for nearly the entire game, building an early 8-4 lead before taking a 15-10 advantage with 10 minutes to play until hafltime. The Blue Tigers eventually led by 10, 25-15, on a dunk by Smith, but Minnesota-Crookston (1-1) closed the first half on a 14-6 run to make it a three-point game at the intermission.

UMC scored the first four points of the second half to take a 36-35 lead, but free throws by Tacourrus Mattox and Smith gave Lincoln back the lead, this time for good. The Blue Tigers went on an 11-1 run early in the period, capped off by a slam by Ollison, to take a 12-point lead. The Golden Eagles clawed back to close the gap down to 51-49 with just under 10 minutes remaining, but free throws from Smith and Maurice Mason sparked LU on a 9-2 run to take back control of the game.

Lincoln led by as many as 14 points late in the second half, and shot 17-for-24 from the line to help seal the victory. Anthony Virdure scored nine points, grabbed five boards and dished two assists while Mason added eight points, five rebounds and a block.

O'Shai Clark and Mattox closed the scoring with four points and three points, respectively. Clark also dished two assists while Mattox grabbed three rebounds. Darrius Spencer additionally provided a rebound, a block and an assist to the winning effort.

The Blue Tigers will try to improve to 3-0 on the season on Wednesday (Nov. 16) when Lincoln travels to Rolla, Mo. to play Missouri S&T at 7:30 p.m. CST.