ST. JOSEPH, Mo. - The contest was tied at halftime, but Missouri Western pulled away in the final five minutes to beat the Lincoln men's basketball team, 65-58, on Saturday (Jan. 29).

Three Blue Tigers scored in double figures, with Josh Wallace tallying 14 points, three assists, four rebounds and a block. Destan Williams recorded 12 points, two boards and two assists on the afternoon while Ni'Sean Rigmaiden finished with 10 points and a team-high seven rebounds.

Missouri Western (9-11, 5-7 MIAA) held a six-point lead with 2:45 until halftime, but Wallace made a free throw and Rigmaiden drained a three off a Chuck Wilson steal to close the gap down to two. Rigmaiden later hit another jumper to make the score 27-27 heading into the break. The second half was evenly played until the Griffons used a 10-2 run to take a 55-48 advantage with 4:51 remaining.

Wallace converted an old-fashioned three-point play to get the Blue Tigers to within four, and Mark Boland later made a trey to get Lincoln (1-15, 0-11 MIAA) within 60-56 of the Griffons. That was as close as Lincoln would come, however, as Missouri Western ended up escaping with the victory.

Wilson led LU with four assists and tallied four points, four boards, two steals and a block. Alafia Oluwasogo chipped in eight points, Yaniel Vidal scored three to go with three boards and a pair of steals, Derrick Woods provided two points, two rebounds and two assists. John Gaines closed the scoring with two points, a rebound and a steal.

Lincoln closed a five-game road trip on Monday (Jan. 31) with a visit to Kearney, Neb. to play Nebraska Kearney at 3:00 p.m. CST.