ST. LOUIS, MO., January 2, 2015 – The University of Missouri-St. Louis men's basketball team opened Great Lakes Valley Conference play on Friday night with a 71-45 win over Illinois-Springfield behind a strong second half defensive effort.
 
The Tritons limited the Prairie Stars to 18.5 percent shooting in the final 20 minutes and 25.5 percent in the game. UMSL outscored its guests, 34-16, in the second half and shot 43.9 percent in the win over UIS, which entered the game leading the GLVC in field goal percentage defense at 35 percent.
 
Senior Neil Branham scored a season-high 14 points, connecting on 4-of-6 three-pointers. Senior Aareon Smith also scored 14 points and tallied a double-double with 11 rebounds, while senior Tylor Wimbish chipped in 11 points and added eight rebounds, three assists and three steals.
 
The Tritons owned a 37-29 lead at the intermission, outscoring the Prairie Stars, 22-5, over the final 10:33. Three straight three-pointers from UMSL, including two from Branham, helped the Tritons to an early 9-3 lead before the Prairie Stars used a 21-6 run over a seven-minutes to take a 24-15 lead. The Tritons responded with 10 unanswered to ignite their run.
 
UMSL improves to 9-2 overall with the win, including 1-0 in the GLVC, while UIS slips to 6-3 and 0-1 in the league.
 
The Tritons owned a 43-37 rebounding advantage and dished out 20 assists on 25 field goals.
 
UMSL continues GLVC play on Sunday, hosting McKendree at 3 p.m.
 
TRITON TIDBITS: The Tritons improve to 7-12 in GLVC openers… UMSL improves to 6-0 at home this season… head coach Bob Sundvold won his 150^th career game, including his 25^th at UMSL in his second season.