Madison, Indiana—The Lions Men's Basketball program traveled to Madison, Indiana for the opening round of the Heartland Athletic Conference Basketball tournament. This would see a rematch of just 48 hours ago, as the eighth seeded Lions would travel to the top-seeded Hanover Panthers. In the final regular season game, Hanover would come away with a 77-72 win. This time the Mount would fall in similar fashion 73-67.
Hanover would earn the first score of the game, the Lions would jump back ahead when Brady Thomas would feed Jack Kolar the ball from behind the arc. The teams would exchange scores before a Tanner Clos jump-shot propelled the team ahead 7-4. The Panthers would soon assemble a 12-4 run. However this would quickly be erased thanks to another Kolar three and Thomas scoring off a jump-shot and a deep ball.
The two teams would continue trading scores throughout the remainder of the half. Down four with 10 seconds to play, Clos would feed Devin Young who would connect on a shot from behind the arc. This sent the Lions to half trailing by one, 40-39.
The Panthers opened the second half hot, turning in a 10-0 run that lasted over four minutes. Kolar put this run to an end knocking down another deep-ball. A pair of free-throws from Clos and a deep-ball from the hands of Evan Wiehe would make it a three-point ball game. This scoring would see Hanover spring onto another run, making it a 57-47 ball game.
At the 10 minute mark, big man, Young and Guard, Thomas would knock down consecutive deep-balls. The big man would knock down another jumper and after a stop, Kolar continued his trend of hitting shots from behind the arc. This series would bring the Lions within four. The Panthers would once again come up empty on their next trip and Clos would capitalize, finishing through contact and completing the old-fashion three point play. Young would tie the game at 64 with a free-throw.
3:11 left to play, the Lions would once again take the lead as Young would force a steal and later knock down a jumper. Hanover would reclaim the lead as they connected on a three-pointer. Down the stretch the Panthers were able to continue to add to their lead in the closing minutes, ending the game 73-67.
In the final game of this season, the Lions had three players turn in double-digit scoring efforts. Young was phenomenal in his final game in a Lions uniform, he finished with 27 points, 8 rebounds, 5 steals and 2 assists. Clos added 12 points, 9 boards and 2 assists. Kolar shot 50% from three seeing him finish with a total of 12 points.
This game concludes the Lions season. For updates on the off-season and all other MSJ Athletics, continue to follow msjlions.com
