KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The Lincoln men's basketball team rallied from a 16-point deficit to nearly force overtime, but Northwest Missouri held the Blue Tigers off, 80-76, in the MIAA Men's Basketball Championship Quarterfinals on Thursday (March 2).

Hot shooting helped Northwest Missouri, the No. 1 seed in the MIAA tournament and the No. 3 team in the National Association of Basketball Coaches' Division II poll, take a 46-33 lead at halftime. The Bearcats shot .630 from the floor and .583 from three-point range in the opening half as NWMSU used an 11-0 run to create a double-digit advantage. Lincoln shot .414 overall in the opening half, but was just 1-for-7 from three-point range.

Lincoln (17-13) tightened up on defense in the second half, as LU out-scored Northwest Missouri (27-1), 43-34, over the final 20 minutes while shooting .500 from the floor. LU only allowed two treys in the second half and finished the game with an 8-11 advantage in turnovers and a 31-29 edge in rebounding.

With 13:09 remaining in the contest, Northwest Missouri hit a three-pointer to take a 61-45 lead over the Blue Tigers. Starting at the 11:14 mark, however, Richie Lewis hit a layup, Tacourrus Mattox made a bucket and Lewis scored once again to pull the Blue Tigers within eight. After a quick score from the Bearcats, Anthony Virdure scored five-straight points to make it a 65-60 affair.

Northwest Missouri built its lead back up to 10 with 4:12 remaining, but a pair of free throws by Maurice Mason sparked Lincoln onto a late 9-1 run to cut the NWMSU lead down to 74-72. After an old-fashioned three-point play increased the NWSMU lead to five, Mason drained a three under heavy pressure to pull LU back to within 77-75. Lincoln was forced to foul after that, however, and the Bearcats made their final four free throws to earn the four-point win.

Lewis and Jaylon Smith each scored 17 points, with Lewis also grabbing six boards, dishing three assists and tallying a pair of steals. Smith, meanwhile, grabbed five rebounds and had two assists to go with a block and a steal. Virdure finished his evening with 16 points, a team-high four assists, three boards and a pair of steals.

Mason also finished in double figures, as he contributed 10 points, two rebounds and a steal to the Lincoln cause. Rod Ollison was next with eight points and four boards while Tacourrus Mattox led LU with eight rebounds. Mattox also scored six points, blocked a shot and provided an assist. O'Shai Clark rounded out the scoring with two points and three rebounds.

With the loss, Lincoln's 2016-17 season comes to a close, as do the careers of Virdure, Smith, Lewis, Mattox, Clark and Ollison. Virdure finishes third on Lincoln's career points per game chart (21.6), fourth in assists (221), third in free throws made (327) and fifth in assists per game (3.7). Virdure and Smith are the only two Blue Tigers ever to score 1,000 points in their first two seasons with the team, as Virdure ends his career with 1,275 points while Smith has 1,168. Lewis, meanwhile, finishes as Lincoln's career leader in steals with 122.