BOLIVAR, Mo. - For a fleeting moment, it appeared that a buzzer-beating three-pointer handed the Lincoln men's basketball team a road loss.

Minutes later, it was the Blue Tigers who were celebrating, as John Burton made a pair of free throws with less than a second remaining to give LU a 75-74 win over Southwest Baptist on Saturday (Jan. 20).

Burton led the Blue Tigers with 19 points, grabbed a pair of rebounds, dished two assists and tallied a pair of takeaways. Maurice Mason and Marquise Williams each scored 16, with Mason also providing six assists and four rebounds. Williams led LU with nine boards and had a pair of assists.

Lincoln (9-10, 3-7 MIAA) led 36-34 at halftime, and shot .533 from the floor in the second half to finish with .508 shooting for the contest. Southwest Baptist (10-8, 4-5 MIAA) shot .535 for the contest and out-rebounded the Blue Tigers, 32-27, but LU forced SBU into 16 turnovers, scoring 20 points off those takeaways.

The Blue Tigers held a 68-60 lead with 4:24 remaining, but Southwest Baptist went on a 14-5 run to seemingly win the game. Lincoln was clinging to a 73-71 lead with 26.3 seconds remaining, but a layup attempt was no good, giving the Bearcats one final chance. At the other end of the court, SBU got an open look at a three in the corner and drained the basket just before time expired.

The officials went to the monitor to review the shot, and determined that there 0.3 seconds remaining. On the ensuing in-bound pass, the Bearcats were called for a foul, and Burton went to the charity stripe to attempt a one-and-one. Burton, who had not tried a free throw before those game-deciding attempts, calmly made both baskets. Paris Parham then stole the ball on a long in-bound pass attempt by SBU, and the Blue Tigers earned the one-point win.

Alexander Nailes contributed seven points to the winning cause, and Calvin Chambers added six points, eight assists, three boards and a pair of steals. Parham had two takeaways to go with five points and a pair of rebounds, and Terrance Smith recorded four points and two boards. Amariontez Ivory rounded out the scoring with two points.

Lincoln will be back on its home court on Thursday (Jan. 25) to play Fort Hays State at 7:30 p.m. CST.