Belleville, Ill. - The Columbia men's basketball team defeated American Midwest Conference newcomer Lindenwood University-Belleville in overtime by a score of 71-70 on the road Saturday night. With the victory, the Cougars improve to 10-3 overall on the year and 3-2 in AMC play while the Lynx fall to 4-7 on the season and 2-2 in league play. 

The Cougars took an 18-11 lead after a Nic Reynolds three-pointer at the 12:09 mark. After a layup and two free throws, the Lynx cut the deficit to three, but Columbia would extend their lead to seven after a 5-1 run capped off by John Meyer's layup. The Cougars would send Lindenwood-Belleville to the line where one of two free throws were made to cut the deficit to four with 2:27 left in the half. A 5-1 run by Columbia would allow them to take an eight point lead with under a minute to play in the first half. The Lynx cut the deficit to six at 33-27 with under 20 seconds after Garrett Gaffner made a pair of free throws. The Cougars shot 41 percent led by Chantel Stanciel with seven points.

The Cougars gained a nine point lead in the second half, their largest of the game, after Zach Rockers hit a three pointer, but the Lynx responded and cut the deficit back down to six after a free-throw and a layup. Travis Vogt responded with a three of his own, but Lindenwood-Belleville used a 6-1 run to cut the deficit to four. The Cougars extended their lead back out to nine with 7:11 remaining in the game, but the Lynx would hang around. At the 4:31 mark the Lynx were down by seven and used a 10-0 run to gain the three point advantage over the Cougars with under a minute to play. Reynolds answered back with a three pointer of his own to send the game into overtime.

In overtime, it was the Lynx that took the three point lead after a Jacobby Anderson jumper. Tanner Sutton then answered back with a three pointer to tie the game at 67. Lindenwood-Belleville drew a foul where one of two were made to take the one point lead. With 1:37 left to play Jeremy Nolen drove in for the layup to reclaim the lead. The Cougars would then turn the ball over, allowing the Lynx to go up by one after a layup. Rockers grabbed an offensive rebound and laid it in with 23 seconds left to play to give Columbia the one point lead. With five seconds remaining, the Lynx put up a missed shot that went out of bounds off of the Cougars. Anderson put up a final three-point attempt, but it went long and Columbia went on to win 71-70.

Columbia hit 23 of 62 attempts from the field to finish at 37 percent on the night. Rockers led the Cougars with 16 points to go along with 12 points from Nolen. Chantel Stanciel finished with a team-high nine rebounds and five assists.

Noel Allen had a game-high 21 points to lead Lindenwood-Belleville, who shot 33 percent and outrebounded the Cougars 58-43.

The Cougars will be back in action on Thursday, January 1^st to host conference opponent Harris-Stowe State. Game time is scheduled for 4:00 pm at the Arena of Southwell Complex.