EVANSVILLE, Ind. – The University of Missouri-St. Louis men's basketball team came up short in an 82-75 loss to top ranked and top seeded Nova Southeastern in an Elite Eight contest on Tuesday evening at the Ford Center in Evansville, Ind.

The Tritons, seeded eighth in the tournament, jumped out to an early three-point lead but the Sharks (34-0) ran off nine of the next 11 points to take its largest lead of the half at 13-9 with 13:06 left in the stanza.

UMSL countered with a 14-8 run over the next 7:17 to retake the lead at 23-21 after a jumper from Donovan Vickers.

The two sides swapped baskets over the next two minutes and were tied at 25 after a layup from Will Yoakum at the 4:34 mark of the half.

The Tritons got a dunk from Mayson Quartlebaum and a three-pointer from Matt Enright to take its largest lead of the half at 30-25 1:18 later.

NSU tied the game at 33 thanks to an 8-3 run after a fastbreak layup from RJ Sunahara.

Bowen Sandquist gave UMSL the lead back with a three-pointer in the final minute of the half but Kobe Rodgers answered on the other end with a three in the final seconds of the half to send the teams to the locker room tied at 36.

The Tritons led by as many as four in the second half after a three-pointer from Sandquist with 12:05 to play in the contest but went cold from the floor over the next three minutes and the Sharks took advantage with an 8-1 run to build a three-point lead.

UMSL tied the game at 55 on a conventional three-point play from Enright but were never able to retake the lead.

The game was tied at 63 after Trever Moore hit a tough pull-up jumper from the free throw line with 4:29 left.

Yoakum gave Nova Southeastern the lead back with two free throws sparking an 8-0 run for the Sharks over the next 1:18. It was their largest lead of the contest.

The Tritons got back to within four at 74-70 after two free throws from Vickers with 1:16 to play but wouldn't get any closer as Dallas Graziani answered on the other end with a jumper from the foul line to extend the margin back to six.

NSU hit its free throws down the stretch going 6-for-8 in the final 0:35 seconds to seal the victory.

UMSL shot 50 percent (28-for-56) from the floor in the contest including 12-for-27 from three but shot 44 percent at the foul line. It outrebounded the Sharks 37-24 but Nova Southeastern had 11 second chance points to just four for the Tritons. UMSL had five players reach double figures in scoring and was led by Sandquist with 15 points. Vickers added 13 points while Drew Cisse finished with 11 points and 10 rebounds and Moore had 11 points as well. Enright finished with 10 points.

The Triton defense held the Sharks to 21 points below their season average and just 38 percent (23-for-60) shooting from the field in the contest. Nova was 5-of-22 from the three-point line but shot 84 percent at the charity stripe. Yoakum had a game-high 34 points while Sunahara and Graziani finished with 13 and 12 points respectively. The Sharks had a 21-4 advantage in points off turnovers.

UMSL finished its season with a record of 24-11, advanced to its third GLVC Tournament title game in four seasons and won its first Midwest Region title in 51 years.