EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Lindenwood men’s basketball (16-16, 10-10 OVC) won their first ever Ohio Valley Conference Championships game in program history after defeating #7 Morehead State (15-17, 10-10 OVC) by a final score of 73-65. The Lions finished 28-28 at the foul line become just one of five teams in the lst 15 years to shoot 100% at the line with 28 or more attempts.
Reggie Bass set multiple OVC Tournament records after going a perfect 17-17 at the foul line on his way to a game-high 23 points. Bass now has the best free throw percentage in an OVC Tournament game (min. 12 attempts) and has the most made FTs in n OVC Tournament game (17). Playing in close to 39 minutes of action, Bass also had four steals, four assists and three rebounds.
Anias Futrell posted his fourth double-double this season after scoring 15 points while grabbing a career-high 13 rebounds. The Lions won the rebounding battle 45-40 including grabbing 13 offensive rebounds. Futrell also added two of Lindenwood’s seven blocks.
Markeith Browning II scored in double-figures with 14 points while adding six rebounds. Jadis Jones rounded out the group with 10 points, four rebounds and two steals. Lindenwood’s starting five combined for 69 of their 73 points. Aly Tounkara off the bench added six rebounds and two blocks down low.
Lindenwood shot 35.5% from the field while being held to 1-15 from three. The Lions scored 36 points in the paint while going a perfect 28-28 at the foul line. This marks a program and OVC record for most consecutive made free throws in a single game. Of Lindenwood’s 13 offensive rebounds, the Lions scored 13 second chance points.
Defensively, LU held Morehead State to 35.4% from the floor despite them making 10 three-pointers. Lindenwood forced the Eagles into 12 turnovers with Lindenwood scoring 14 points off of those. The Lions also scored 26 points on fast break opportunities.
It was a slow start for both offenses on Wednesday evening as the Lions trailed 5-4 at the first media timeout. Lindenwood started the game shooting 2-8 from the floor while Morehead State shot 2-6.
The Eagles went on a 7-2 run after the media timeout to extend their lead to 13-6 after a Jerone Morton layup. Futrell stopped the run with a driving layup of his own after a steal in the back court.
Lindenwood got it as close as 18-17 in the first half after Bass converted an and-one. Morehead State continued to use their height down-low going on a 11-3 run going up 28-19 with 3:48 left in the first half. Lindenwood found themselves trailing going into halftime by a score of 30-21.
Morehead State capitalized on their three-point shot in the first half shooting 4-10 from behind the arc as the Lions were 0-8. Browning II and Bass combined for 15 of Lindenwood’s 21 points with Jones adding four. LU shot 27.3% from the field through the first 20 minutes.
Coming out of the locker room, Lindenwood eventually tied the game after a 10-1 run to start the half off. Bass closed the game at 31-31 with a lay-in at the 17:11 mark. Lindenwood took their first lead of the second half after a steam by Jadis Jones on the in-bound pass to make it 36-34.
With 12:16 remaining, the Lions opened up their lead to five-points after a tip-in layup by Browning made the score 42-37. Morehead State’s George Marshall hit back-to-back threes with 10:!2 left to give MSU the lead back at 45-44. Morehead State held a three-point lead with just over five minutes to play but it was all Lindenwood from there.
Futrell nailed the only Lions’ three of the ball game with 4:38 remaining to put the Lions ahead by two. After a three by MSU’s Kenny White Jr., Lindenwood iced the game going 18-18 at the foul line for the final 3:57 of the game as they left day one of the OVC Championships with a victory. Lindenwood went 25-25 at the foul line in the second half.
