KIRKSVILLE, Mo.—Much like the matchup on the gridiron between these two teams this past fall, Thursday's matchup between the Truman men's basketball team and the Lindenwood Lions came down to the final seconds. But this time the Bulldogs made a final stop and came out on top 72-70. In a matchup of the top two scorers in the conference Brodric Thomas edged out Lindenwood's TJ Crockett 27-25.
At the 17:14 mark of the first half Truman held a slight edge at 5-4. Hunter Strait started an 11-2 run for TSU to take a 16-6 lead with 12:12 to go. Thomas had seven straight points in the middle of the run and ten of the first 16 for the Bulldogs. The lead got up to 11 at 21-10 for TSU, but the Lions would cut the lead down to five at 21-16 with 6:44 to go. Truman pushed the lead back up to double digits at 30-20 with 3:19 to go following a three point play by Cade McKnight. Ultimately the Bulldogs went into the locker room with a nine point edge at 36-27.
Lindenwood came out of the locker room on an 8-4 run to cut the lead back down to a handful at 40-35. Truman quickly pushed back with a jumper from Thomas and three points from Alex McQuinn to go back up ten. Slowly the Lions chipped away and with 9:50 to go they took their first lead of the game at 55-54. For the next 2:40 the teams went back and forth giving and taking the lead, until Strait nailed a three at 7:10 to put the Bulldogs up four at 63-59. With 4:04 to go, the teams were knotted up at 65 each. Thomas gave the Bulldogs the lead again, McKnight followed with a basket to go up four at 69-65.
With the score at 71-67, Crockett converted a three point play to bring the Lions within one with 52 seconds to go. With 18 seconds left, Lindenwood had the ball down 71-70. After passing around looking for a shot, Thomas came up with a steal with one second remaining. The ensuing foul put him on the line where he made one of two. The Lions had one final chance, Crockett got the in-bound pass at half court but muffed it as the clock ran out and the Bulldogs survived.
Thomas put up an all-around great performance with 27 points, eight rebounds and four steals; all of which led the team. He got two blocks to tie McKnight for the team lead and three assists to tie Turner Scott for the team lead there. McKnight also had a great game with 23 points, including 9-9 from the foul line.
Truman moves to 11-2 in GLVC play, tied at the top with Missouri-St. Louis; Saturday's visitor to Pershing Arena. The Tritons fell 67-57 at Quincy Thursday night to enable Truman to tie them atop the GLVC. Tip off will be at 3 p.m.
