ST. JOSEPH, Mo. - The Lincoln men's basketball team rolled to a 20-point halftime advantage and held off Missouri Western for a 79-68 victory on Saturday evening (Dec. 8).

Five Blue Tigers scored in double figures, led by 20 points from Ni'Sean Rigmaiden, who was also responsible for five rebounds, three assists and a steal. Lincoln shot a blistering hot .593 for the game, made nine treys and forced the Griffons into 14 turnovers to pick up its first conference win of 2018-19.

Lincoln (5-3, 1-1 MIAA) held Missouri Western (5-6, 0-2 MIAA) to .386 in the first half and took a 45-25 lead into the break. The Blue Tigers, who scored 21 points off turnovers and 10 on second chance opportunities, led by as many as 24 in the second half. The Griffons closed the gap down to nine with less than a minute to play, but Lincoln made its free throws down the stretch to complete the victory.

Terrance Smith had a pair of blocks and contributed 15 points and six rebounds to the winning cause. John Burton tallied 14 points and four boards, and Amariontez Ivory scored 11 while dishing three assists. Grant Olsson rounded out LU's double digit scorers with 10 points, four boards and a pair of assists.

Jonell Burton led the Blue Tigers with seven rebounds and chipped in seven points while L'Kielynn Taylor closed the scoring with two points and three rebounds.

The Blue Tigers will next be in action at the QU Subway Holiday Classic, hosted in Quincy, Ill. by Quincy University next weekend. LU will take on the host team on Saturday (Dec. 15) in a 3:15 p.m. CST showdown before playing McKendree on Sunday (Dec. 16) at 1:00 p.m. CST.