COLUMBIA, Ky. – With Mid-South Conference play starting on Saturday, the Campbellsville University men's basketball team fell to Lindsey Wilson College 77-63 at the Biggers Sports Center.
 
The Tigers and Blue Raiders traded punches through the first seven-plus minutes of the game as CU held a lead until the 12:44 mark when LWC took a 12-11 lead. It was all Lindsey Wilson at that point as they never let up the lead.
 
The Tigers attempted to regain the lead at the 6:43 mark of the first half as Justin Tucker cut it to a 22-21 game, the closest margin since the 12-11 score. From that point on, the Blue Raiders ended the half on a 11-3 run to enter the break with a nine-point lead at 33-24.


 
Tucker finished the game with 15 points and four rebounds on 7-for-10 shooting from the field. The junior from Orlando, Fla. had seven points in the first half followed by an eight-point second half.
 
Campbellsville hung around in the early portion of the second half, keeping the game around a 10-point margin but LWC pulled away to a 16-point lead around the 12:44 mark. They then grew the lead to 21 points with 8:33 left at 63-41.
 
The closest the Tigers pulled within from that point was 13 behind a strong individual effort from Richie Mitchell as he had a stretch of scoring eight-straight points to cut the score to 63-50 with 6:43 left to go in the game.


 
Mitchell had a career-high 16 points to lead the way for the Tigers as he scored 14 of his 16 in the second half of the game. Joining Mitchell and Tucker scoring double figures was Ronald Taylor as he finished with 14 points on 4-of-7 shooting while also going 5-of-6 from the free throw line.
 
The Blue Raiders had four scorers in double figures led by 21 points from Reece Brooks as he added six assists. They also had 17 from Malik Hart, 13 from Matthew Eldridge, and 10 from Kameron Mack.
 
CU will return to action next Wednesday against Simmons College of Kentucky at the Powell Athletic Center for a 5 p.m. start.