LEBANON, Ill. – The University of Missouri-St. Louis men's basketball team fell to No. 22 Lake Superior State 59-46 in the McKendree DII Classic Presented by State Farm on Thursday evening at the Harry M. Statham Sports Court in Lebanon, Ill. The Tritons drop to 0-4 while the Lakers improve to 5-1.

UMSL jumped out to an early seven-point lead but couldn't extend its lead despite cold shooting from Lake Superior State. The Lakers rallied to tie the game at 12 with 10:10 left in the opening stanza and the two sides swapped baskets over the next five minutes until LSSU took its first lead of the night on a three-pointer by Devin Womack.

The Tritons retook the lead on a three-pointer from Savon Wykle with less than three minutes to play in the half but the Lakers closed the half scoring six of the final eight points to take a 27-24 lead into the locker room at the break.

The difference in the first half came at the foul line as Lake Superior State was 6-for-6 while UMSL was 1-of-4 at the charity stripe.

The two sides traded baskets over the first three minutes of the second as the Tritons cut the Laker lead 31-29 after Ethan Chartrand hit 1-of-2 at the foul line.

The Lakers scored the next seven points to extend their lead to nine after a three-pointer by Adam Harakow before a three from Wykle quieted the run momentarily to pull UMSL back within six with 13 minutes to go.

LSSU pulled away over the next 8:40 thanks to a 19-5 run that saw it build its largest lead of the night at 57-37 on a three-pointer from Hunter Soper. Soper had 11 points in that run. The Tritons scored nine of the last 11 points for the final margin.

UMSL shot 37 percent (17-for-46) from the field in the contest, was 5-of-16 from three and shot 50 percent at the foul line. Troy Glover II and Wykle led the Tritons with 11 and 10 points respectively.

The Lakers finished the game shooting 34 percent (21-for-61) from the field but shot 44 percent (12-for-27) in the second half including 7-of-15 from three. They were 10-of-32 from three in the contest and shot 88 percent at the foul line. Soper finished with a game-high 21 points while Harakow added 13 more.

UMSL plays its final game before the Thanksgiving break on Friday against No. 23 Alabama-Huntsville in the McKendree DII Classic presented by State Farm at 5:30 p.m. at the Harry M. Statham Sports Center.