NORTH CANTON, Ohio – The University of Missouri-St. Louis men's basketball team led wire-to-wire in its season opening 70-53 upset win over No. 20 Walsh on Friday evening at Alumni Arena in North Canton, Ohio.
The Tritons (1-0) scored the first six points of the contest and held the Cavaliers (0-1) without a field goal for the first nine-plus minutes of the game. Walsh's first three points came at the foul line. UMSL extended its lead to 12-3 on back-to-back three-pointers from
Donovan Vickers and
Bowen Sandquist.
The Tritons stretched their lead to 11 after another three from Sandquist with 8:37 left in the first half. Walsh ran off nine points in a row to climb back within two after a jumper in the paint from Tim Smith Jr., but UMSL countered with back-to-back buckets from
Dylan West and Sandquist to extend its lead back to six.
The Cavaliers scored seven of the next nine points to close to within a point but wouldn't get any closer than that as UMSL ended the half on an 11-2 run to take a 36-26 lead into the locker room at the break.
The Tritons shot 50 percent (14-for-28) from the field including 6-of-16 from three in the first 20 minutes. UMSL turned the ball over 11 times but also forced 11 turnovers and had seven steals. The Tritons outscored Walsh 16-8 in points off turnovers in the half.
Sandquist led all scorers with 11 points in the frame while
Victor Nwagbaraocha added seven points.
UMSL extended its lead to as many as 19 with a 23-14 run over the first 10 minutes of the second half.
The Cavaliers wouldn't get closer than 12 after a layup from Smith Jr with 5:19 remaining. The Tritons put the game away scoring eight of the final 10 points to cruise to the victory.
UMSL shot 46 percent from the field in the second half and finished the game hitting 27-of-56 shots (48.2 percent) including 10-of-25 from three and shot 86 percent at the foul line. The Tritons outrebounded Walsh 38-32 and turned 15 turnovers into 22 points.
Sandquist led all scorers with 20 points while Nwagbaraocha added 17 and West finished with eight points.
The Cavaliers were led in scoring by Smith Jr. with 18 points while Garrison Keeslar and Zakai Alexander had 10 points each. Walsh was held to 31 percent (19-for-60) shooting in the contest including 6-of-31 from three.
UMSL concludes its trip to Ohio on Saturday taking on Tiffin at 12 p.m. (CST) at Alumni Arena.
