ROMEOVILLE, ILL., January 8, 2015 – The University of Missouri-St. Louis men's basketball team shot a season-high 60 percent from three-point range and made 22-of-26 free throws in the final 3:44 to pick up an 87-83 road win at No. 21 ranked Lewis on Thursday night in Great Lakes Valley Conference action.
 
The Tritons improve to 11-2 overall, including 3-0 in the GLVC, while Lewis slips to 10-2, including 2-1 in the league. The loss also snapped a seven-game win streak by the Flyers and was the first Lewis home loss in seven tries this season. UMSL picked up its first win over a ranked team since January 10, 2013, when it defeated then No. 4 Bellarmine, 87-82, at home.
 
Junior Tylor Wimbish led UMSL with a season-best 19 points, while junior Brandon Marquardt tied his season-high of 16 points, hitting 4-of-5 three-pointers. The Tritons finished 9-of-15 from beyond the arc and were 54.2 percent from the field.
 
Senior Derek Shouse added 14 points, going 11-of-12 at the free throw line, including 9-of-10 in the closing minutes, while senior Aareon Smith recorded 12 points and 10 rebounds to notch his third straight double-double and his sixth in the last seven games.
 
UMSL clung to a 33-31 halftime lead, shooting 50 percent in the opening frame. The Tritons connected on four of their first five shots to jump out to an early 10-2 lead. However, the Flyers followed with a 13-5 run, knotting the score at 15-15 before taking a 19-18 lead at the 7:40 mark. A pair of Derek Williams three-pointers, including one at the 3:44 mark, put UMSL back on top 26-25. The Flyers were just 1-of-9 from three-point range in the first half, but owned an 8-0 edge in second chance points.
 
A quick basket by Wimbish to open the second half made it 35-31 before a 7-2 spurt by the Flyers put the hosts on top 38-35. Three of the Tritons' next four field goals then came from long range, including junior Tre Ogles' long ball at the 9:59 mark push the Tritons ahead 52-47.
 
Moments later, UMSL hit four straight field goals to take its largest lead of the game at 63-52 with just under six minutes to play, but Lewis responded with six unanswered forcing a Tritons timeout. Smith followed with a bucket for the Tritons' last field goal of the game and a 65-58 lead. UMSL scored its final 22 points at the free throw line.
 
Lewis shot 49.2 percent from the field and was limited to just 6-of-23 (26.1 percent) from three-point range, but owned a 30-28 rebounding advantage, including a 9-3 edge on the offensive end and finished with 13 second chance points to the Tritons' two.
 
UMSL returns to the court on Saturday in a 3 p.m. contest at Wisconsin-Parkside.