ST. CHARLES, Mo. - The IU Indianapolis men's basketball continued to find life on the road rough as the Jaguars fell at Lindenwood on Saturday (Dec. 14), 81-63.
Paul Zilinskas led three Jaguars in double-digits with 18 points and
Jarvis Walker added 13 points. Senior guard
Alec Millender contributed 11 points and five assists in defeat.
Jaylon McDaniel led all scorers with 22 points on 9-of-12 shooting and Markeith Browning II had 18 points, seven rebounds and five assists.
Lindenwood (5-6) shot 50 percent from the floor and an uncharacteristic 8-of-17 (47.1 percent) from three. The Jaguars (5-8) shot 39 percent from the floor and from three, but were outrebounded 40-25 and outscored 44-18 in the paint. The opportunistic Lions also outscored IU Indy 21-4 in points off turnovers and 23-6 in fast break points.
Lindenwood led virtually wire-to-wire, building an early lead and only allowing the Jags to draw even at 14-14 on a
Julian Steinfeld dunk. The Lions responded with a 7-0 run and kept the Jaguars at arm's length to build a 39-29 halftime lead. The lead swelled as large as 16 early in the second half before the Jaguars used an 8-0 run to cut the advantage in half.
Timaris Brown opened the run with a pair of free throws before Zilinskas and Walker connected on consecutive triples. Lindenwood responded by scoring 12 of the game's next 16 points to regain the 16-point lead and never let the Jags closer than 10 from there.
The IU Indy offense struggled inside the arc as the Jags made just 9-of-24 (37.5 percent) of its two-point attempts. And while both teams committed 12 turnovers, Lindenwood was far more efficient, using 12 offensive rebounds to earn 11 second chance points.
Sean Craig closed with eight points, three rebounds and three steals and Steinfeld played his most extensive minutes of the season with eight rebounds in 16 minutes off the bench. The Jags finished 11-of-28 from three with Millender and Zilinskas each connecting on three apiece.
The Jaguars will close out the non-conference slate next Saturday (Dec. 21) at Florida International at 6:00 p.m. on ESPN+.
