ST. LOUIS, MO. – The University of Missouri-St. Louis Tritons men's basketball team tipped off the 2018-19 season on Thursday night with an exhibition game at NCAA Division I Saint Louis U, falling to the host Billikens, 71-49.
The Tritons will now turn their attention to the regular season, tipping off their 53
rd season of intercollegiate play next weekend at the GLVC/GMAC Crossover, hosted by Maryville. The Tritons face Walsh on Friday at 5 p.m. and Tiffin on Saturday at 1 p.m.
How it Happened
1
st Half
- SLU raced out to a 12-1 lead, while UMSL missed its first five field goal attempts before senior Eric Dust netted a jumper at the 12:13 mark.
- The Billikens took their largest lead of the half at 19-3 with 8:20 on the clock. Sophomore Shane Wissink then scored UMSL's next eight points to get the Tritons within 21-11 with 6:31 to go.
- SLU took a 31-21 lead into the break despite going the final 4:27 without a field goal and missing five straight shots to end the half. Meanwhile, senior Johnathan Matthews scored all of UMSL's five points in the 55 seconds to make it a 10-point deficit at the break.
2
nd Half
- The Billikens opened the second half on a 13-2 run to open a 43-23 advantage five minutes in.
- UMSL got within 43-29 eight minutes later on a lay-in by redshirt freshman Arinze Mgbemena, but the Tritons would get no closer.
Numbers of Note
- Wissink finished with 14 points, 11 of which came in the first half. He was 5-of-8 from the field, including 3-of-5 from three-point range, and picked up four steals and two assists.
- Matthews also scored 14 points.
- UMSL shot 36.4 percent, while SLU connected at a 43.5 percent clip.
- The Billikens took advantage of 28 UMSL turnovers, scoring 32 points on the other end. SLU finished with 24 turnovers.
- SLU held a 46-27 rebounding advantage, including a 21-5 edge on the offensive end.
- Redshirt junior Jason Towery had a team-best five rebounds.
