KIRKSVILLE, MO. – Truman State shot 55.2 percent in the second half en route to a 67-62 victory over the visiting University of Missouri-St. Louis men's basketball team on Thursday night in Great Lakes Valley Conference action.
 
The Bulldogs overcame a 10-point first half deficit to garner the win and improve to 13-5 overall, including 5-3 in the GLVC, while UMSL falls to 6-11 and 0-8 in the GLVC. The Tritons have now lost five league games by five points or less.
 
The loss overshadowed a career-night by junior Hunter Reine, who finished with 16 points and eight rebounds. Junior Joseph English added 11 points.
 
UMSL owned a 33-30 halftime lead, but saw Truman State finish the opening frame with a 10-4 run to help erase the Tritons' double digit lead. UMSL had scored 10 unanswered in a stretch of 1:43 to turn a 15-15 tie into a 25-15 lead on sophomore Max Cook's three-pointer at the 7:34 mark.
 
The Bulldogs took their first lead of the game 44 seconds into the second half at 35-34, outscoring UMSL 5-1 to start the stanza and took their largest lead of the game at 63-56 with 4:35 to play. The Tritons got buckets from Reine and English to pull within 63-60 with 3:13 to play, but followed with a pair of turnovers and a couple missed three-point attempts.
 
UMSL shot an even 50 percent and owned a 35-26 rebounding advantage, while Truman connected at a 45.8 percent clip.
 
The Tritons were plagued by 19 turnovers, their second most this season, which resulted in 19 Bulldog points on the other end.
 
Cook dished out five assists and pulled down five rebounds.
 
UMSL returns to the court on Saturday, traveling to Quincy in a 3 p.m. GLVC contest.