ST. LOUIS – The University of Missouri-St. Louis men's basketball team dropped its home opener to Winona State 72-62 on Wednesday evening on Chuck Smith Court at the Mark Twain Building. The Tritons drop to 0-3 while the Warriors improve to 2-1.
The two teams went back and forth for the first 10 minutes as UMSL held a 16-12 lead after back-to-back threes from
Matt Enright and
Savon Wykle with 9:18 to go in the opening half.
The Tritons extended their lead to as many as six at 26-20 after a four-point play from Enright with 5:03 left in the stanza.
Winona State dominated the final 4:30 of the frame using a 17-0 run to take a 37-26 lead into the locker room at the half. Connor Drew and Tyler Mason had six points apiece in the run.
The Warriors opened the second half with a three to extend their lead to 14 but UMSL fought back pulling to within 47-41 with 11:01 remaining after two free throws from
KC Udolisa.
That would be as close as the Tritons got as WSU answered with a 9-0 run and stretched its lead to as many as 17 with 6:07 to go in the contest.
UMSL got the deficit under double digits with 0:16 left after a three from Wykle before Mason sealed the game with two free throws.
The Tritons finished the contest shooting 41 percent (21-for-51) from the field including 12-of-32 from three and shot 80 percent at the foul line. Enright led all scorers with 25 points and matched his career-high with six threes. Wykle added 13 points.
Janeir Harris and
Quenton Parker had eight points apiece.
UMSL was outrebounded in the contest 34-28 and 10-7 on the offensive end. The Warriors had an 11-7 advantage on second chance points and a 20-11 edge in points off turnovers.
Winona State shot 46 percent (26-for-57) from the floor in the contest including 10-of-24 from three and shot 91 percent at the foul line. Luke Haertle led five Warriors in double figures with 17 points. Drew and Mason added 15 apiece while Isaiah Thompson and Jhei-R Jones had 10 points each. Drew also grabbed 10 rebounds to finish with a double-double.
The Tritons are back in action next Thursday (Nov. 21) taking on Alabama-Huntsville in the McKendree DII Classic Presented by State Farm at 5:30 p.m. in the Harry M. Statham Sports Center in Lebanon, Ill.
