ST. JOSEPH, Mo. - The Lincoln men's basketball team has dropped four straight after Saturday's 76-68 loss at Missouri Western.
The Blue Tigers started off hot, building an 18-6 lead in the first five minutes.
Jaylon Smith scored nine of his 14 points on three 3-pointers during that stretch.
Richie Lewis added a layup and a free throw, Aaron Spudich and Tacourrus Mattox each scored inside, and Anthony Virdure hit a jumper.
Virdure led Lincoln with 22 points. He also had four rebounds, three assists and zero turnovers.
Lewis had 15 points, three boards, two assists, two steals and a block.
Mattox nearly had a double-double, finishing with 10 points and nine boards.
The Griffons scored 35 of the next 50 points to take a 41-33 lead at halftime.
The Griffons scored the first five points of the second half and eventually got their lead to 65-44 with 8:25 remaining.
The Blue Tigers did fight back to get within five with 32 seconds remaining, but Missouri Western made 3-of-4 at the free throw line to close it out.
Lincoln shot just over 39 percent while the Griffons shot nearly 41 percent.
Missouri Western made 56 percent of its shots in the first half.
Lincoln (12-11, 8-9 Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association) fell one spot to eighth in the conference standings with the loss.
The Blue Tigers will return home Saturday against Emporia State (10-12, 7-9 MIAA). Game time is set for 3:30 p.m.