ST. LOUIS – The University of Missouri-St. Louis men's basketball team dropped its regular season finale to McKendree 78-74 on Saturday afternoon at the Mark Twain Building.

With the loss, the Tritons (19-9, 11-9 GLVC) dropped from third to fifth in the GLVC's Point Rating System and will take on fourth seeded Rockhurst in a quarterfinal contest next Friday at noon at Lindenwood's Hyland Arena in St. Charles, Mo.

UMSL jumped out to an early seven-point lead but the Bearcats (15-12, 11-9 GLVC) rallied to take a 28-23 lead after two free throws from Eric Powell II with six minutes left in the first half. The Tritons got hot over the remainder of the stanza closing it on a 19-7 run to take a 42-35 lead into the intermission.

McKendree opened the second half with five straight points to cut UMSL's lead to two 75 seconds into the frame. UMSL countered with eight straight to push its lead to 10 after four straight points from Isaiah Fuller.

The game hung around an 8-to-10 point margin over the next eight minutes when the Tritons took their biggest lead of the contest at 66-55 after a three-point play from Mayson Quartlebaum with 7:43 to go.

The Bearcats got hot from three knocking down four threes' in the span of two minutes to cut UMSL's lead to 68-67 with 5:34 remaining.

The Tritons held a pair of three-point leads down the stretch but McKendree answered each time.

UMSL led 72-71 with less than a minute to play when Luke Hensler scored a layup to give the Bearcats their first lead since it was 28-23.

Victor Nwagbaraocha was fouled on a drive to the basket on the ensuing possessions and hit both ends of a one-and-one to put the Tritons back in front with 0:40 left.

It would be their last lead of the game. Fuller was called for foul on the perimeter guarding Bryson Bultman and Bultman hit both free throws to put McKendree back on top with 0:29 remaining.

UMSL had a chance to retake the lead but Bowen Sandquist's three-point attempt from the right wing was short and Milos Vicentic got the rebound. Vicentic was fouled by Fuller and hit both free throws to extend the lead to three.

Matt Enright was fouled on the ensuing possession but missed the front end of a one-and-one as Caleb Zurliene got the rebound. Zurliene was fouled by Drew Cisse and hit 1-of-2 to seal the victory.

The Tritons shot 45 percent (29-for-64) from the floor in the contest but were 4-of-20 from three and shot 75 percent at the foul line. Fuller finished with a game-high 27 points and added nine rebounds. Nwagbaraocha added 14 points while Cisse finished with 11 points. Sandquist, Quartlebaum and Trever Moore had seven points apiece.

The Bearcats shot 50 percent (23-for-46) from the field in the game including 9-of-21 from three and shot 89 percent at the foul line. Vicentic led McKendree in scoring with 20 points while Powell II had 18 points and Bultman finished with 15 points.