ROLLA, MO. – Senior
Alex Majewski scored a career-best 17 points on Saturday to help the University of Missouri-St. Louis men's basketball team to its first Great Lakes Valley Conference victory with a 91-74 win at Missouri S&T on Saturday.
The loss was the first of the season for the Miners, which entered the game averaging 95.2 points per game, and was held to a season-low points.
UMSL, which rebounded from Thursday's 69-68 loss at No. 15 Drury, improves to 5-4 overall, including 1-1 in the GLVC.
Majewski was one of six players to finish in double figures with junior
Steven Davis and freshman
Kobe Wands each adding 12 points. Junior
D.J. White followed with 11 points and seven rebounds, while senior
Joseph English tallied 10 points and eight assists. Junior
Drew Skaggs added 10 points and seven rebounds.
UMSL clung to a 45-43 halftime lead behind Majewski's 15 first half points. The Tritons took their largest lead, 33-23, at the 6:30 mark on a pair of
Max Cook free throws, but a 7-2 run over the final 1:54 by the Miners trimmed the advantage at the break.
Missouri S&T opened the second half with a 15-12 advantage to take a 58-57 lead seven minutes in, but the Tritons followed with seven unanswered over the next 54 seconds, capped by junior
Elijah Watson's lay-up that swung the lead back in UMSL's favor at 64-58.
The Tritons later used another run, 12-2, to extend their advantage to 76-63 with 7:26 to play on Wand's three-point ball and never looked back. The Rolla native had five points during that stretch.
UMSL shot 58.3 percent, including 64.3 percent in the second half, while Missouri S&T shot 46.6 percent, being held to 35.3 percent in the second half, following a 62.5 percent first half. The Miners held a 32-29 rebounding edge, including an 11-7 advantage on the offensive end.
The Tritons had a season-low six turnovers and outscored Missouri S&T, 17-9, in points off turnovers, taking advantage of the Miners' 11 miscues.
UMSL is back in action on Thursday, hosting Trevecca Nazarene in nonconference play at 7 p.m.
