ST. CHARLES, MO. - The University of Missouri-St. Louis men's basketball team saw its season come to an end on Thursday night with a 70-65 overtime loss to No. 2 seed Drury in quarterfinal round action of the 2015 Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament at Family Arena.
 
The Tritons led by seven points with 2:39 to play in regulation, but saw Drury score seven unanswered to force overtime. The Panthers then scored four quick points in the overtime period for a 64-60 lead, their first of the game, en route to the win. UMSL missed its final three shots of regulation and its first five of the extra frame.
 
UMSL ends its season with a 19-11 mark, while Drury improves to 19-9 and advances to Saturday's semifinal against the winner of No. 3 UW-Parkside and No. 6 Truman State. It was the second overtime victory over the Tritons this season for the Panthers, who rallied back from a 22-point deficit on January 22 in St. Louis to garner an 80-76 win.
 
Senior Aareon Smith finally got UMSL back on the board with 52 seconds to play in overtime and 20 seconds later hit a pair of free throws to make it a 66-64 contest. The Panthers then made the first of two free throws for a 67-64 lead, but Smith did the same on the other end and Drury closed the game with 3-of-4 at the charity stripe to preserve the win and came up with a key offensive rebound on its one missed attempt.
 
Smith led the Tritons with 21 points in his final UMSL game, while senior Tylor Wimbish added 14 points. Nine different players scored for the Tritons, which shot 46 percent. Drury connected at a 36.8 percent clip, but owned a 38-30 rebounding advantage and took advantage of 17 UMSL turnovers by outscoring the Tritons, 20-5, in points off turnovers.
 
Wimbish gave the Tritons their largest lead of the half at 38-27 with the first bucket of the second half, but Drury then scored seven unanswered over the next 50 seconds to ignite a 12-5 run to pull within 41-39 with 13:30 remaining. UMSL got five quick points back to extend the advantage to 46-39 before a 7-1 Drury run made it a 47-46 game. UMSL followed with five straight, including two buckets from Wimbish and with 4:34 to play, took a 56-49 lead on a traditional three-point play from Smith.
 
Another Smith bucket with 2:39 to play gave the Tritons a 60-53 advantage, but a game-tying three-pointer with 50 seconds on the clock knotted the score at 60-60, eventually sending it to overtime.
 
UMSL owned a 36-27 halftime lead behind 53.8 percent shooting in the first 20 minutes and defensively, limited Drury to 30.8 percent shooting. UMSL scored the game's first eight points and owned a 12-3 lead with just over three minutes played.
 
The Tritons shot 53.8 percent in the opening 20 minutes, while limiting Drury to 30.8 percent shooting.
 
Smith pulled down eight rebounds and collected three steals, while freshman Max Cook and junior Derek Williams recorded four assists each.
 
TRITON TIDBITS: UMSL falls to 3-10 in GLVC Tournament games… Drury leads the all-time series, 18-7, and has won five straight.