LIBERTY, Mo. – The 19th ranked University of Missouri-St. Louis men's basketball team rallied from a second half deficit to William Jewell 62-56 for its third straight win on Thursday evening at Larry Holley Court at the Mabee Center in Liberty, Mo. The Tritons improve to 17-3, 9-3 GLVC while the Cardinals drop to 10-10, 7-5 GLVC.

UMSL jumped out to the early lead as Victor Nwagbaraocha hit a layup from Isaiah Fuller on its first possession. William Jewell quickly took the lead as Mason Alexander hit a three on the other end. The Tritons came right back as Nwgbaraocha scored on the next possession to give them the lead back.

The Cardinals retook the lead thanks to a 6-2 run but UMSL answered right back as Donovan Vickers hit a three to tie the game at nine with 12:07 left in the opening half.

William Jewell ran off eight straight points highlighted by back-to-back three-pointers from Grant Stubbs and Alexander to build its largest lead of the half at 17-9. UMSL chipped away at the lead getting back-to-back baskets from Dylan West to pull within a pair.

The Cardinals stretched its lead back out to seven late in the half but the Tritons closed the frame scoring seven of the final 11 points to cut the WJC lead to 31-27 at the half.

The Cardinals outscored UMSL 11-9 over the first 7:38 of the second half to extend its halftime lead from four to six. The Tritons responded with a 13-3 run over the next 4:29 to take its first lead since early in the contest on a layup by Fuller with 7:51 remaining.

William Jewell scored four straight to tie the game at 49 after a layup by Eli Wingert at the 5:04 mark.

Neither side scored again until Fuller hit a driving layup with 3:24 to play. UMSL got a stop on the other end and then Bowen Sandquist hit a three from the top of the key to give the Tritons a five-point lead with 2:47 remaining.

The Tritons built their largest lead of the game at 60-53 after two Fuller free throws in the closing seconds. UMSL hit their last six free throws of the contest to seal the victory.

The Tritons were held to 39 percent (22-for-56) shooting from the field in the contest, were 3-of-20 from three but shot 83 percent at the foul line. Fuller led all scorers with 21 points while Sandquist and Nwagbaraocha had nine points each.

The Cardinals were held to 40 percent (20-for-50) shooting in the contest but shot only 24 percent in the second half from the field. William Jewell was 4-of-19 from three and shot 71 percent at the foul line. Alexander led the Cardinals with 15 points.

UMSL continues its road trip on Saturday as it travels to Kirksville, Mo., to take on Truman State at 3 p.m. at Pershing Arena.