COLUMBIA, Ky. – The Lindsey Wilson men's basketball team fell short 77-73 to UT Southern (Tenn.) on Thursday night despite a late comeback attempt to drop the Blue Raiders to 6-13 overall and 2-12 in conference.

Tennessee Southern high percentage shooting from the field kept the Firehawks in control as they were able to escape a late scare by the Blue Raiders. This defeat marks the fourth straight loss for LWC.

Jamyus Jones led all Blue Raiders in scoring with a season-high of 17 points as he kept Lindsey Wilson within striking distance down the stretch in the second half. Payton Cundiff followed up behind Jones with nine points on just four shot attempts as four separate Blue Raiders finished with seven respectively.

LWC got off to a great start with a 7-0 run to begin the game before UTS countered with back-to-back threes of their own. Lindsey Wilson managed the pace midway through the first half as they took an early 19-16 lead. The Firehawks then went on a 9-0 run after taking their first lead which was the only lead change of the contest.

After another quick run by UT Southern and a scoring drought by the Blue Raiders led to LWC being behind by as much as eight points, 34-26, with just over three minutes remaining in the half. Lindsey Wilson bounced back and closed out strong with a 9-3 run as Rodney Lewis hit a leaning floater at buzzer to trim the UTS lead down to 37-35 at the break. Both teams concluded the first half shooting above 50% from beyond the arc.

Each squad was not willing to back down in the first five minutes of play out halftime as UTS led by just one, 45-44. A Kavion Hancock three pointer struck a 22-7 run by the Firehawks to give them a 67-51 lead with just over six minutes to play.

Lindsey WIlson showed some grit and did not go away easily as a late surge led by 10 second-half points from Jones brought the deficit within five with about 30 seconds remaining. Cundiff also made his presence felt by hitting two straight threes that brought the game to 73-72 with only 10 seconds remaining, but the Firehawks executed at the free throw line to close the door on any chances for LWC to complete the comeback.

The Blue Raiders will return to Biggers Sports Center on Saturday, Jan. 21 when they take on Cumberland University (Tenn.) at 3 p.m CT in another conference battle.