QUINCY, Ill. – Roosevelt's offense went quiet down the stretch of a 66-49 loss to McKendree on Tuesday in a neutral-site matchup against the Bearcats at Quincy University.

Up until the final five minutes, the Lakers (0-7) showed their resilience and grit by responding to the Bearcats each time they threatened to pull away. An early nine-point lead was erased on the back of Jalen Windham scoring 15 first-half points, including the first five points of a 9-0 run that gave Roosevelt its first lead of the game.

After outscoring McKendree 9-2 over the final six minutes of the first half, Roosevelt continued its momentum in the second half. Davon Smith-Johnson knocked down a 3-pointer to give the Lakers a one-point edge then a Griffin Yaklich steal led to a Mikey West triple in transition. Dante Sawyer finished off the run with a layup to give the Lakers their largest lead of the day at 35-29 with 16:53 left.

The Bearcats responded to retake the lead then stretch the margin to 12, but the Lakers took less than two minutes to claw back to within a possession. Sawyer drilled a 3-pointer then Roosevelt forced a shot-clock violation that led to a Windham 3. Sawyer came up with a tough defensive rebound in traffic and sent an outlet pass to West for a step-back triple to cut the deficit to three.

However, those would be the final points of the day for the Lakers, who were led by 18 points from Windham on 7 of 16 shooting in the loss. Sawyer was the only other Roosevelt player in double figures with 11 points while shooting 5 of 8 from the floor. West finished on six points, a team-best five assists and a team-high five steals, and Smith-Johnson had nine points and four boards.

UP NEXT: The Lakers get a crack at the hosts Wednesday afternoon as they face off with Quincy at 1 p.m.