SAINT LEO, Fla. – After holding an 11-point lead in the first half, Saint Leo men's basketball fell 74-71 to No. 14 Lynn after a tight battle down the stretch Wednesday night inside the Marion Bowman Activities Center.

"We knew this was going to be a tough test tonight," Head Coach Vince Alexander stated. "Having an early lead was great but we need to be able to play two halves of basketball, especially in this league, and we will continue working on that."

Kyran McClure led the Lions (10-12, 7-7 SSC) in scoring on the night with a game-high 26 points going 7-of-19 from the field and 5-of-10 from downtown. McClure added his remaining seven points from the free throw line, going a perfect 7-for-7. McClure added five assists to his stat line.
 
Isaiah Hill and Tyler Carter chipped in with 14 and 13 points, respectively, where Carter went 3-for-4 from downtown and Hill 5-for-7 from the charity stripe. Saint Leo committed just six turnovers on the night, 7.7 below the teams season average (13.7). As a team, the Lions shot 39-percent from the field and 40-percent from downtown while ending the night with a 75-percent from the free throw line. 

Alexander added, "We took care of the ball, committing just six turnovers, but some of those were costly as we fell behind to Lynn. We will get back in the gym tomorrow and look to another tough game on the road at Nova Southeastern."
 
Lynn (18-3, 11-3 SSC) saw three score in double-figures paced by Michael Baez's 22 points. Jamal Palmer and Darius Moore added 17 and 15, respectively. Baez added 11 rebounds to his credit ending the night with a double-double.
 
How It Happened

• After a back-and-forth two minutes, Saint Leo would eventually build out to an early 11-point lead capped by a Yalen Reed alley-oop from Isaiah Hill for a 15-4 advantage, forcing a Lynn timeout.
• The Fighting Knights would battle back and tie things up at 15 with an 11-0 run with 10 minutes to play.
• The Lions would run out to another eight point lead with 6:50 to play, 28-20, before another Fighting Knights run tied things again at 28-28.
• The two teams traded buckets down the stretch of the opening period before the Lions saw Tyler Carter drain a three with four seconds remaining for a halftime lead of 37-36.
• Carter and Kyran McClure hit back-to-back three's to push the Green and Gold lead to seven, 43-36, before extending it to nine, 52-43, on another McClure three with 13:04 to play.
• Lynn would fight back and tie things at 57 with 5:32 on the clock.
• Saint Leo would gain a three-point lead, 61-58 on a Carter jumper before Lynn closed the gap and tied things for the seventh time at 63.
• The Fighting Knights would extend their lead to five, 69-64 with 36-seconds left where the game ended in free throw attempts. Despite Kyran McClure hitting a three with 2-ticks left, Lynn would hold on for the 74-71 win.

Up Next
Saint Leo will hit the road for its next game and travel to Fort Lauderdale to take on No. 7 Nova Southeastern for a 4 p.m. tip.
 
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