EWARDSVILLE, Ill. – SIUE flexed its defensive muscle Tuesday night, grinding out a 66-62 win over Lindenwood, handing the Lions their first league loss of the year.
The 62 points marked the third-lowest output of the year for the Lions, who came into the game as the Ohio Valley Conference's highest-scoring team.
The Cougars improved to 3-2 in the Ohio Valley Conference and 10-6 overall. Lindenwood slipped to 4-1 in the OVC and 10-6 overall.
SIUE leads the all-time series with Lindenwood 14-1 and the Lions have not won a game in Edwardsville in the series.
Darrion Baker made his second consecutive start in place of scoring leader Ring Malith and dropped in a career-high 20 points to lead the Cougars. Baker added a team-high nine rebounds. Baker was 7-10 from the field.
Kyle Thomas scored a season-high 13 points and Tyler King, making his first career start, scored a career-high 12 points.
Lindenwood opened up a 6-3 lead to start the game, but SIUE tied the score on a three-pointer by Darrion Baker and took the lead on a pair of free throws by Tyler King, and they never trailed again in the half.
The Cougars led by as many as eight after a pair of Thomas free throws with 7:30 to play before halftime made it 25-28. SIUE led 33-26 after a layup from King with 1:29 left in the first half but took a one-point lead (35-34) into halftime after the Lions finished the period on an 8-2 run.
Jadis Jones scored after a steal with 13:33 left in the game to put Lindenwood on top for the first time since the 6-3 start. The lead changed hands five more times in the half before SIUE went back on top for good after two free throws by Thomas made it 54-53.
Valrie drained a three-pointer from the right wing to extend the Cougar advantage to 61-55. The Lions cut the lead back to three twice in the final 12 seconds.
Jack Campion added seven points and seven assists for the Cougars. Arnas Sakenis scored seven points and added four blocks. Valrie scored seven points while adding six rebounds and two steals.
The Cougars were 16-22 overall from the free throw line and sank 9-12 in the second half to seal the win.
SIUE was 22-52 (42 percent) from the field and limited the league's best shooting team to just 24-66 (36 percent).
SIUE concludes a four-game homestand with Little Rock at First Community Arena Thursday. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
