Lincoln men's basketball coach John Moseley doesn't expect his team to shoot 50 percent from the floor and 50 percent from 3-point range every game. But he'll gladly take it when it happens.
"That's not something we can hang our hat on a nightly basis," Moseley said after the Blue Tigers snapped a four-game losing streak Saturday with an 89-66 win against Missouri Western Griffons at Jason Gym.
"Defensively is where we have to hang our identity. Your defense travels with you, your jump shot you sometimes leave at home."
Lincoln shot 55.9 percent from the floor - including 61.5 percent after halftime - and made 14-of-27 shots from 3-point range. On top of that, the Blue Tigers had six players scored 10 or more points in the win.
"Having six guys in double figures is more indicative of how we hope to play," Moseley said. "We don't want to be a one- or two-person team."
Lincoln also had a change to its starting lineup, as Lamont Ballard Jr made his first start of the season and Marcus Cohen made his second. Bansi King also returned to the starting lineup for the first time in two weeks.
"I thought putting some guys on the bench and rewarding guys that have put the work in was a good thing for us," Moseley said.
It was a really good thing for King, a 6-foot-3 freshman who scored a team-high and career-high 15 points.
"He's been a program guy, he's a system player with the way we play," Moseley said. "He fits in from that standpoint. As long as he does the things he does well, and not try to overdo it, he's a great player."
Ballard Jr. and Cohen combined to make three 3-pointers in the opening three minutes to give Lincoln an 11-8 lead. After Ballard Jr. knocked down his 3 from the left corner to break a tie at 8, the Blue Tigers never trailed in the game's final 37 minutes.
But the Griffons always stayed within reach in the first half, never trailing by more than 10 points. Missouri Western shot 54.8 percent in the first half and trailed 44-37 at intermission.
"As a coach, I made a few mistakes trying to push tempo a little bit and gave them opportunities that weren't necessarily against our set defense," Moseley said. "I backed off that a little bit and encouraged the guys to stay solid and do their best to stay between their man and the rim and try to make them make contested jump shots."
Tyus Millhollin knocked down a 3 and was fouled with 15:06 to play, pulling Missouri Western within a possession at 55-52. Millhollin couldn't complete the rare 4-point play, and Lincoln answered with a 13-0 run, starting with a mid-range jumper by Jordan Notch.
Notch also completed the run with a basket at the 11:11 mark to extend the lead to 68-52.
"For us, the tempo of this game was completely different from Thursday night," Moseley said. "We did a really good job of pushing the basketball."
Eight different players scored in the final eight minutes for the Blue Tigers, who had 23 assists on 33 made shots.
"The guys really shared the ball well," Moseley said.
Jonell Burton, normally a starter for Lincoln, came off the bench to finish with 10 points, several rebounds and five blocked shots.
"Jonell's got an innate ability to really elevate, he can get up in the air," Moseley said of Burton's shot-blocking ability as a 6-4 guard. "He was on help-side defense on a lot of those (blocked shots)."
Missouri Western (4-6, 1-1 MIAA) made just four field goals in the final 10 minutes and had its shooting percentage drop to 32.3 in the second half.
Millhollin, who made five 3s, led the Griffons with a game-high 19 points. Beau Baker also reached double figures with 11 points and added nine rebounds.
Missouri Western played its second straight game with Tyrell Carroll, who leads the Griffons with 19.6 points and 6.1 assists per game.
Cameron Potts scored 14 points for Lincoln, Ballard Jr. finished with 12 points, Notch came up with 11 points off the bench and Marcel Burton chipped in 10 points.
"This has to be a collective effort for us to have success like this," Moseley said.
Lincoln (3-5, 1-1 MIAA) returns to non-conference play for the rest of December. The Blue Tigers play McKendree on Saturday in the Quincy Holiday Classic, then face the host Hawks the following day in the two-day event.
"We had some success up there last year, and we're going to play two really good GLVC teams," Moseley said. "For us, it's a matter of trying to come out of games and feel good about the way you play."
III
Northwest Missouri, the No. 1 team in NCAA Division II, had its 46-game winning streak end Saturday with a 72-60 loss at Central Missouri.
Just two days earlier, Central Missouri dropped a 67-63 decision at home to Missouri Western, while Northwest Missouri routed Lincoln 87-53.
"It's the MIAA," Moseley said. "You show up, you compete. There's not a team in this league that can just show up and win."