ST. LOUIS – The University of Missouri-St. Louis men's basketball team dropped a hard-fought contest to McKendree 83-78 on Saturday afternoon at the Mark Twain Building. The Tritons drop to 7-8, 5-2 GLVC while the Bearcats improve to 10-4, 4-3 GLVC.

The two sides traded baskets for the first couple of minutes in the contest as UMSL led 7-6 after a layup from Matt Enright less than three minutes into the contest. McKendree hit its next six shots from the floor as it went on a 14-3 run to build its largest lead of the contest at 20-10 after a jumper from Kevin Stein with 13:39 left in the half.

The Tritons got hot scoring 16 of the next 22 points over the next 5:41 to tie the game on a layup from Emanuel Prospere II. Prospere and Kris O'Neal II combined for 10 of the 16 points in that run.

The Bearcats countered with a 9-2 run to regain its lead and were up 35-28 after a three-pointer from Caleb Zurliene with 2:22 left in the frame. UMSL drew within four after a three from Savon Wykle but McKendree scored five of the final eight points of the half to take a 40-34 lead into the locker room at the half.

The Tritons opened the second half on a 13-6 run to retake since early in the contest after two free throws from Terrell Kabala.

The lead was short lived however as the Bearcats ran off the next nine to points to retake the lead and stretched it to eight after a three-pointer from Milos Vicentic with less than 12 minutes to play.

UMSL kept battling pulling to within one on a couple of different occasions but each time it drew closer McKendree had an answer to extend the lead.

The Tritons trailed 61-60 with 7:06 to go after a three form Prospere II but the Bearcats ran off eight of the next 10 points in the span of 2:41 to push its lead back to seven and UMSL wouldn't get closer than two the rest of the way as McKendree made its final six free throws to seal the victory.

The Bearcats shot 56 percent (28-for-50) from the floor in the contest including 8-of-18 from three and 73 percent at the foul line. Vicentic and Zurliene combined to score 56 points (28 points each) in the contest.

The Tritons shot 41 percent (26-for-63) from the field in the game including 9-of-24 from three and 71 percent at the foul line. They outrebounded McKendree 39-to-28 in the contest. Troy Glover II led three players in double figures finishing with a double-double with 19 points and 14 rebounds. Mayson Quartlebaum added 16 points while Kabala finished with 12 points.

UMSL is back in action next Thursday as it travels to Indianapolis to take on the UIndy Greyhounds at 6:30 p.m. (CST).