KIRKSVILLE, Mo. - The Truman State University men's basketball team was happy to be home and that was more than evident against Lindenwood on Wednesday night. The Bulldogs splashed in 16 three-pointers on 34 attempts (47.1 percent), finished with a trio of scorers who put up at least 15 points and sent the Lions home with a 79-67 loss.

Truman is 3-0 to begin a season for the first time in the Chris Foster era and avenged its first loss of last year against Lindenwood in St. Charles, 94-83. Meanwhile, Lindenwood gets on the bus with a 2-1 record and will travel to The Sunshine State to take on Florida Tech on Saturday.

Through his first three games of last season, Jake Velky had scored 39 points and was averaging 13 per game. That was nothing compared to what the Waverly-Shell Rock product has been able to do so far as a junior. Velky poured in 25 more points on Wednesday (16 in the first half) to put his 2017-18 total at 70 or 23.3 per contest. The junior guard also had four rebounds and three assists. Right behind Velky and what may be the most impressive of all was a coming out party for Jack Green. Green set new career highs for points (22), rebounds (8), three-pointers made (6), triples attempted (10), free throws made (6), and free throws attempted (6).

The third Bulldog in double-figures was Zach Fischer with another double-double (15 points and personal best 14 rebounds), the third of his career and second in three games. For the season, the defending GLVC Player of the Week's averages are up to 18.3 points, 11.3 boards, 2.0 assists, and 1.7 steals per game. Taurin Hughes was given a second-consecutive start at point guard and played effectively with nine points, a game high five assists (career high) and only one turnover in 36 minutes of action.

Defensively, Truman surrendered less than 70 points for the second-straight game, which hadn't been done since a streak of three in January of the 2015-16 season. In the process, Lindenwood shot just 35.9 percent from the field (23-of-64) and 21.7 percent from behind the arc (5-for-23). In comparison, the Bulldogs made 47.5 of their looks from the floor (28-of-59) and those 16 treys in 34 attempts from deep.

The only stretch in which Truman couldn't seem to find the bottom of the net was the first nine minutes and 41 seconds when Lindenwood outscored the Bulldogs by eight, 17-9. The Purple and White were just four of their first 14 from the floor and turned the ball over three times. Truman bounced right back, though, with three triples in a row followed by a Hughes layup to go up by three, 20-17. The Bulldogs never trailed again and the Lions never even tied it up. From that point until halftime, the scoring was much more balanced, though, and Truman was up four at the break, 28-24.

Out of the intermission, as is usually the case, Truman put together a big run, this time with 20 of the first 27 points scored. That gave the Bulldogs a 17-point advantage, 48-31, and they missed just two shot attempts during that span (7-for-9). Lindenwood didn't go away quietly, though, and used a 25-12 spurt to cut the margin to four, 60-56, with just under six minutes to play. After four-straight points by the Bulldogs to get the lead back to eight, 64-56, the Lions cut it to four a second time at 64-60 with 4:10 to go. From there until the final buzzer, Truman outscored Lindenwood by eight, 15-7, and improved to 3-0 in the process.

Next up, the Bulldogs will compete in a tournament hosted by No. 1 Northwest Missouri State this weekend. Friday, Truman faces Upper Iowa at 5 p.m. followed by the Bearcats on Saturday at 3 p.m.

#BewareOfDog