WARRENSBURG, Mo. - An uncharacteristically cold shooting performance proved too much to overcome for the Lincoln men's basketball team, which fell to Central Missouri, 71-55, on the road on Wednesday (Jan. 16).

Terrance Smith scored a team-high 15 points and grabbed six rebounds while Jonell Burton finished with seven boards and 13 points. As a team, however, the Blue Tigers, who entered the game shooting .491 overall and owning NCAA Division II's second-best three-point shooting percentage of .436, were held to just 18 made field goals as Central Missouri led for most of the night.

Amariontez Ivory finished with nine points and four rebounds for LU while Ni'Sean Rigmaiden contributed eight points, six rebounds and a team-high four assists.

Central Missouri (10-6, 3-4 MIAA) caused Lincoln (11-4, 4-2 MIAA) to shoot just .310 overall and .250 from long distance. The Blue Tigers defended well from the perimeter, as UCM also shot just .250 from three-point land, but the Mules scored 38 points inside the paint and shot .450 for the game.

DJ Ward and John Burton each scored three points, with Burton also notching two steals, and Grant Olsson finished with two points and a pair of rebounds. L'Kielynn Taylor also scored two points and grabbed two rebounds while Darrius Spencer had a rebound and TJ Babikir dished an assist.

Lincoln will be back in action on Saturday (Jan. 19), as the Blue Tigers travel to Bolivar, Mo. to play Southwest Baptist at 3:30 p.m. CST.