Lincoln men's basketball coach John Moseley summed up Thursday night's game against Rogers State by saying it was a good MIAA game.
He just wished he had been able to say it with a smile.
"We couldn't get the big stop when we needed it," Moseley said following an 82-80 loss to the Hillcats at Jason Gym. "They shot lights out tonight. Making 50 percent from 3 is tremendous."
It was a game in which neither team led by more than nine points, but Lincoln spent most of the game trying to play catch-up with Rogers State.
"Our guys competed, we never hung our heads," Moseley said. "We had a chance to tie it or win it at the end, but we just weren't able to get it done tonight."
Lincoln, which had postponed its previous two games due to COVID-19 protocols, played Thursday with Sevon Witt, who led the Blue Tigers with 16.4 points and 8.9 rebounds per game entering the contest.
"I think Sevon's arguably one of the better post players in the league," Moseley said. "I was very proud of the other guys for stepping up."
Filling in for Witt was Derrick Woods, who made his Lincoln debut and finished with 21 points and six rebounds off the bench.
"He's good and he's going to be able to play alongside Sevon whenever we get him back, hopefully really soon," Moseley said of Woods, who is entering his second week with the team.
Woods made a 3-pointer from the top of the key for his first points to put Lincoln ahead 12-10 with 15:50 to go in the first half. The next five minutes would be a back-and-forth battle, until Rogers State got a pair of 3s from Brewster Peacock.
Jett Sternberger got a friendly bounce into the net on his 3-point attempt to stretch the Hillcats' lead to 30-25 with 7:01 to go in the first half.
Lincoln fell behind by nine points late in the first half, but an alley-oop dunk from Cameron Potts to Woods and then a pair of free throws by Quinton Drayton closed the gap to 45-40 by intermission.
"With the way I thought we played in the first half, we could've easily been down 15 points," Moseley said. "We at least worked a little bit on the offensive end."
Lincoln spent the better part of the second half trying to catch Rogers State, and finally did with 6:36 to play, when a 3 by Drayton made the score 61-60, giving the Blue Tigers their first lead since it was 23-22 at the 10:03 mark of the first half.
"I thought we had something going," Moseley said. "Defensively, we switched to a zone and it was giving them problems."
After getting a stop, Yaniel Vidal made an 11-footer to give Lincoln a three-point lead. The Blue Tigers had a chance to add to their lead with a steal by Vidal, but a Lincoln turnover led to a 3 from the corner by Sternberg to tie the score at 63 with 5:26 to play.
"Within the game, there are a lot of possessions like that that you look at and you go, 'Man, if we just could have capitalized on that point, the game would have been different," Moseley said.
It was the first of three straight possessions with a made 3 for the Hillcats, who were 13-of-25 beyond the arc. Rogers State took the lead for good with a drive and layup by Darraja Parnell to make the score 74-72 with 2:30 left.
Lincoln grabbed a rebound off a missed free throw, trailing 82-80 with :09.7 remaining. However, the Blue Tigers were unable to get off a shot before time expired.
"It's a long game, but we'll remember that possession for a long time," Moseley said.
Drayton led Lincoln with 28 points, shooting 11-of-21 from the floor. He also grabbed a team-high eight rebounds for an undersized Blue Tiger squad.
"He's a talented offensive player," Moseley said. "He has confidence that he can score the basketball. Sometimes it's within what we're trying to do and sometimes he's just able to go and make a shot."
Vidal also reached double figures with 13 points.
Sternberger was one of four players for Rogers State (6-5) to score in double figures, leading the way with 23 points. Devin Pullum had 15 points, Peacock added 13 points and Parnell chipped in 11.
Lincoln (6-3), which dropped its first home game of the season after winning its first five, will host Northeastern State at 3 p.m. Saturday. The RiverHawks (2-9) dropped an 89-82 decision Thursday to Central Missouri.