JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. - The Lincoln men's basketball team started hot and finished strong to out-last Central Missouri for a 79-65 victory on Thursday night (Feb. 15). The win, the seventh in eight games for the Blue Tigers, guarantees Lincoln a third-straight winning season for the first time since posting eight-consecutive winning campaigns during the 1970s.

Lincoln (15-11, 9-8 MIAA) began the game on an 11-0 run, made 10 of its 14 three-point attempts in the first half, and led Central Missouri (19-6, 11-5 MIAA) 45-23 at halftime. The Blue Tigers shot .593 from the floor in the first half and .549 for the game while finishing with 14 treys and a 27-19 advantage in rebounding.

The Mules opened the second half strong, cutting the Blue Tiger lead down to 13 with 53-40 to play. After making just one trey in the first 20 minutes, UCM drained eight shots from downtown in the second half, and ended up shooting .457 from the floor for the ballgame.

Back-to-back treys by Amariontez Ivory and Terrance Smith, followed by a two-point bucket from Smith pushed the Lincoln lead back up to 21, and the Blue Tigers led 76-57 entering the final three minutes of the contest. Central Missouri eventually cut the deficit down to 13 on a trey at the 2:03 mark, but the Blue Tigers made three shots at the line down the stretch to earn the 14-point victory.

Smith led Lincoln with 30 points on 11-for-15 shooting, and scored 20 of those points in the second half to help the Blue Tigers shut down a potential Central Missouri comeback. Smith also grabbed four rebounds and dished three assists on the evening. Joining Smith in double figures were Maurice Mason, who tallied 12 points, and Ivory, who finished with 10. Mason led LU with seven assists and registered four rebounds and a steal while Ivory led Lincoln with seven boards.

Calvin Chambers and John Burton finished with nine points apiece, with Chambers also tallying three assists and three steals, and Marquise Williams had four rebounds to go with two points. Grant Olsson and Paris Parham came off the bench to score four points and three points, respectively, and Alexander Nailes contributed two boards, an assist and a steal to the winning effort.

Lincoln will have a chance to clinch a winning record in league play next Thursday (Feb. 22) when the Blue Tigers host Missouri Western at 7:30 p.m. CST.