A four-point play gives the 5-7 Lindenwood Lions the 52-51 win over the 5-7 Skyhawks after a back-and-forth affair between OVC rivals.
The Skyhawks drop another close game right at the end, a trend that, however exciting, has been a recipe for disaster for the Skyhawks, who have played in 13 games decided by five points or less and have lost eight of them. A frustrating fact that head coach Jeremey Shulman knows all too well at this point.
“It is what it is. I feel for this team,” Shulman said, “-we’re competing our tails off and trying to get every little, tiny edge we can possibly get.”
The Skyhawks competed hard even without one of their better playmakers and their best defender, Vladimer Salaridze, who leads the team in rebounds and steals while also providing good passing ability from the forward position.
Neither team was able to get shots to fall in the Elam Center, with both teams shooting below 30% from the field and 25% from beyond the arc. Which means when shots fell, they mattered even more.
Leading the Skyhawks was sophomore forward Lamine Niang who just narrowly missed a double-double with nine points and 11 rebounds to go along with five blocks.
Other contributors for the Skyhawks included sophomore guard/forward Andrija Bukumirović (8 points; 12 rebounds) and junior guard Tarence Guinyard (11 points).
Unlike the game beforehand, the Men’s game was very reliant on runs. The Lions would capture the lead initially with a 10-2 run to end the half and go up eight over the Skyhawks at halftime.
The Skyhawks would respond with a run of their own; starting the second half outscoring the Lions 13-4 to claim a one-point lead. A lead that the Skyhawks would stretch to 13 with 9:06 left to play and a lead that would slowly be whittled away by a persistent Lindenwood offense.
Down to just a minute to go, the Skyhawks and Lions would go back and forth with the Skyhawks retaining a three-point lead with just under 30 seconds remaining. That would be until Lindenwood junior guard Reggie Bass converted a four-point play to take the lead; just his second made shot of the day and the go-ahead bucket to put away the Skyhawks.
The Skyhawks would get the opportunity to respond with 16 seconds remaining but would fail to convert on two attempts and fall to the Lions 52-51. The loss gives the Lions a sweep of the series, a series that the Skyhawks lost by a total of two points. (52-51; 82-81)
Looking ahead, the Skyhawks welcome the 2-11 Western Illinois Leathernecks to Martin for the second meeting of the season on Saturday, Feb. 8 at 3:30 p.m..
