BOURBONNAIS, Ill. – The Roosevelt University men's basketball season ended with an 81-63 loss to 11^th ranked Olivet Nazarene University in the CCAC Conference Tournament semi-finals on Friday, February 25 at McHie Arena.  The Lakers finished the year with a record of 19-12 with their 19 wins tying for second most wins in program history.

Olivet Nazarene never trailed in the contest and built a 14-7 lead just under six minutes into the game.  The Lakers pulled to within 14-11 after back-to-back buckets by Caleb Brown and Matt Myers, but the Tigers went on a 9-0 run to hold a 23-11 advantage with just under ten minutes remaining in the first half.  Roosevelt answered with a 13-3 run to cut the deficit to 26-24 with 5:53 to go and Olivet Nazarene pushed the margin to 34-28 at the half.

The Lakers continued to trail by six points early on in the second half before the Tigers started to pull away, building a double-digit lead of 50-39 with 12:11 to play.  Roosevelt brought that margin down to 50-41 on two free throws from Ayomide Ajiboye, but Olivet Nazarene increased its lead back to double figures and led by as many as 22 points before winning 81-63 to move on to the conference championship.

CCAC TOURNAMENT SEMI-FINAL DETAILS

Score:   Roosevelt                            28           35           63
                Olivet Nazarene                34           47           81

Records: Roosevelt 19-12 | Olivet Nazarene 29-3

Location: McHie Arena | Bourbonnais, Ill.

KEY STATS

• Ayomide Ajiboye had a team-high 19 points & seven rebounds
• Trenton Kyler tallied 13 points, two assists, & a steal
• Matt Myers registered eight points, three blocks & two steals
• Andrew Veon also had eight points to go with two blocks
• Jarod Stonis pulled down six rebounds
• The Lakers shot 35% from the field & 21.7% from three-point range
• The Tigers shot 55.8% overall & 28.6% from behind the arc
• ONU held a 37 to 29 advantage in rebounds

NEWS & NOTES

• The Lakers 19 wins tied for the second most wins in program history, which was also recorded during the 2018-19 season
• Olivet Nazarene advances to the CCAC Tournament championship to face Lincoln College on February 28
• The Tigers are ranked 11^th in the latest NAIA Top 25 Poll & won the CCAC Conference regular season title to secure a spot in the NAIA National Tournament
• RU is now 5-13 in the all-time series versus ONU
• The loss marked the end of the collegiate careers of seven Laker seniors, including Ayomide Ajiboye, Anthony Martinez, Matt Myers, Quin Riggins, Jarod Stonis, Eetu Villa, and manager Matt Robinson