KIRKSVILLE, Mo.—The Truman State Men's Basketball team resumed its GLVC schedule Sunday afternoon with a home game against the Lindenwood Lions, and defeated their GLVC Central Division rival 74-56 behind a dominating second half in which they outscored the Lions 41-25. It was a 33-31 game at half in favor of the Bulldogs but they held Lindenwood to under 27% shooting from the field in the second half to secure the victory.
Elijah Hazekamp and Eric Northweather tied for the team lead with 18 points, with Northweather making his third start of the season. It was a career high for Northweather, and the two were joined in double figures by Keaton Mitchell; who set a career high with 15 points.
The first few minutes of the game started slowly, with Hazekamp making the only field goal in the first three minutes of the game. The Lions led 4-2 when Mitchell got a layup for the Bulldog's second field goal and then Dylan Peeters made a jumper to put Truman up 6-4. Back to back dunks from Mitchell gave Truman a 10-8 lead, and then Hazekamp made a three pointer to go up five. It was a tight game in the middle of the half, and with 2:39 to go Lindenwood took a brief lead at 27-25 before Northweather tied it up. Masen Miller hit two threes in the last minute of the half, including one at the buzzer, to send Truman to the lock room with a two point lead.
In the second half, Hazekamp got things started for the Bulldogs, followed by threes from Miller and Northweather. Later on a layup from Peeters gave Truman their first double-digit lead of the game at 43-33. Lindenwood made a run to cut it to 50-45, but Truman answered with threes from Hazekamp and Northweather. Trey Shearer made it an 8-0 run for Truman and then after Lindenwood foul shots answered with a three pointer to make it 67-50 with under five minutes left. Truman held off any rally attempt from the Lions and sealed the win.
Hazekamp also led the team with seven rebounds, and Hunter Strait led with nine assists. Overall the Bulldogs shot 29-58 from the floor (50%) and 13-29 (44.8%) from three point range.
Truman will be back in action on Tuesday night as they head to Quincy for a showdown with the Hawks at 7:30.
