Published: February 11, 2009 12:13 am      

Mountain State falls to Lindsey Wilson

COLUMBIA, Ky. — It was bound to happen to NAIA No. 2 Mountain State University at some point during the season.

And Tuesday night it did.

NAIA Division I No. 17 Lindsey Wilson took advantage of porous free throw and 3-point shooting on the part of the Cougars in an 83-69 win at the Biggers Sports Center.

The Cougars had previously been able to escape defeat despite lapses in shooting, especially at the free throw line.

Lindsey Wilson led by just two, 69-67, with four minutes left before exploding on a 14-2 run to end the game. That run was aided by the Cougars’ own untimely shooting woes.

Mountain State was 0-for-10 from three-point range in the second half, and worse, 3-of-15 from the free throw line.

“They just made a couple of threes, and we were 0-of-10 in the second half on threes,” Mountain State coach Bob Bolen said. “They hit some big shots and we missed. And they dominated us on the boards.”

Lindsey Wilson owned a 35-30 advantage on the glass.

Mountain State had a 37-32 lead at the half.

Andrew Lee led the Cougars with 16 points.

Nick Aldridge, who did not start, suffering from the flu, added 14 points and Bo Harris had 10.

Ismar Neto led the balanced Blue Raiders with 15. Lindsey Wilson’s leading scorer, Eric McPherson, had 12 and Sam Walton and Quintes Thomas had 10 points each.

MSU is now 6-2 on the road this year. Mountain State lost to the Blue Raiders 74-73 last year in Columbia.

Mountain State (20-3) is at Allen University Saturday (4 p.m.) before returning home to face Salem International next Tuesday at 7 p.m.