ST. JOSEPH - The Lincoln Blue Tigers' hot shooting in the first half built enough of a lead to defeat the Missouri Western Griffons 79-68 on Saturday in men's basketball action.
The first four minutes were a struggle for the Blue Tigers, but a pair of 3-pointers by John Burton fueled a 10-0 run to make it 12-6 Lincoln with about 12 minutes left in the first half.
Lincoln shot 5-of-10 from 3-point range in the first half on its way to a 45-25 lead.
The Blue Tigers made 19-of-32 of their shots in the first 20 minutes.
Ni'Sean Rigmaiden paced the Blue Tigers with 20 points, making 9-of-12 from the floor. Terrance Smith scored 15 points, Burton added 14, Tez Ivory finished with 11 and Grant Olsson chipped in 10 points.
Jonell Burton led Lincoln with seven rebounds.
Lincoln (5-3, 1-1 MIAA) is back in action next Saturday in the Quincy Holiday Classic. The Blue Tigers will face the host school at 3:15 p.m. and play McKendree at 1 p.m. Sunday in the Classic.
III
The longest winning streak to begin a season has come to and end for the Lincoln women's basketball team.
The Blue Tiger turnover and Missouri Western jumper in the final seconds led to a 62-61 victory for the Griffons on Saturday.
The Griffons led by as many as seven in the opening quarter, but Lincoln led 16-15 after a Zhanesha Dickerson 3-pointer to close out the quarter.
The teams combined to score 11 points in the next 10 minutes as Lincoln led 23-19 at halftime. The scoring picked up in the third with teams scoring 21 points.
Dickerson scored a game-high 25 points and added 11 rebounds for her sixth double-double. Zoi Thompson tallied 16 points and tied for a game-high five assists. Alecia Gulledge was the only Lincoln player to score more than three points, finishing with 13.
Lincoln (7-1, 1-1 MIAA) hosts William Jewell at 5 p.m. next Saturday.