LEBANON, Ill. – The No. 11 University of Missouri-St. Louis men's basketball hit 11 three-pointer's in the second half of its 83-73 win at McKendree on Thursday evening in Lebanon, Ill. The Tritons move to 14-1, 6-1 GLVC while the Bearcats drop to 6-8, 2-5 GLVC.
After a tight first half where the teams swapped the lead nine times and were tied four times along the way. UMSL made a late run to take a 30-25 lead after two free throws from
Isaiah Fuller with 2:35 remaining in the opening half. McKendree countered with eight straight to regain the lead at 33-30 after Milos Vicentic hit three free throws with 62 seconds left in the half.
The Tritons scored the final four points of the frame on a dunk from
Drew Cisse and
Donovan Vickers hit a driving layup in the closing seconds to give the Tritons a 34-33 lead the half.
The two sides continued to trade baskets early in the second. Vicentic scored six of McKendree's nine points to begin the second half to take a 42-40 lead with 15:46 remaining. That would be its final lead of the contest.
UMSL went on a 17-0 run over the next 3:45 highlighted by five straight three's in the run.
Victor Nwagbaraocha started the run with a three from the right wing. Fuller,
Trever Moore,
Matt Enright and Vickers also hit three's. Fuller capped the run with an empathic dunk off a Bryson Bultman missed shot giving the Tritons their biggest lead of the night at 57-42.
McKendree countered with a 12-3 run in the span of 2:09 to cut the UMSL lead to six after two free throws from Vicentic.
UMSL pushed their lead back to nine after a three-pointer from
Bowen Sandquist with 7:47 remaining.
The Bearcats continued to chip away getting to within 65-62 after a jumper by Vicentic but Vickers answered on the other end with a three from the right wing to put the Tritons ahead by six with less than five minutes to play.
Bultman countered on the other end hitting a shot in the lane and was fouled on the play but missed the ensuing free throw to keep the lead at four.
Sandquist and Fuller sandwiched three's around a layup from Vicentic to extend the lead to eight with 2:11 to go.
McKendree wouldn't get closer than seven the rest of the way as UMSL sealed the game at the foul line hitting five of their final six free throws.
The Tritons finished the game shooting 52 percent (28-for-54) from the field including 15-of-30 from three, 11-for-16 in the second half, but shot only 57 percent at the foul line. Fuller led four UMSL players in double figures with a game-high 25 points while Vickers added 17, Enright chipped in with 11 and Nwagbaraocha finished with 10.
The Bearcats shot 50 percent (27-for-54) from the field in the contest but were 7-of-21 from three and shot 75 percent at the foul line. Vicentic and Bultman scored 24 and 23 points respectively while Carson Parker added 11 off the bench.
The Tritons continue their road trip on Saturday with a game at No. 24 Indianapolis at Nicoson Hall at 2 p.m. (CST).
