SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – The University of Missouri-St. Louis men's basketball team upset No. 12 and top seeded Missouri S&T 65-56 in the Midwest Region semifinal at The Recreation and Athletic Center on Sunday evening in Springfield, Ill. The Tritons improve to 21-11 and will play in the Midwest Region final for the third time in four years on Tuesday evening. The Miners end their season with a record of 25-6.

When these two teams met nearly two months ago in Rolla, S&T prevailed 88-84 but the rematch on Sunday evening was a completely different game. UMSL held the Miners 27 points below their season scoring average and made things difficult for them on the offensive end.

The Tritons never trailed and led by as many as eight in the opening half after Savon Wykle stole the ball from Blaise Beauchamp and dunked it home on the fast break.

S&T battled back closing to within 25-24 as Ryan Sroka hit a pair of three's and Andrew Young hit two free throws in the run. Wykle hit a jumper with less than a minute to go in the half to give UMSL a 27-24 lead at the break.

The Miners scored on their first two possessions of the second half to pull within 30-28 but that would be as close as they got as UMSL went on a 21-10 run over the next 10-plus minutes to build its largest lead of the game at 51-40 on a three from Wykle with 8:55 left.

S&T ran off eight of the next 10 points to pull within five with 4:19 remaining but Emanuel Prospere II with his momentum taking him away from the basket tipped in a layup to extend the lead to seven points.

The Miners wouldn't get closer than six points the remainder of the contest as UMSL hit 10-of-14 free throws in the final 91 seconds to secure the victory.

The Tritons were efficient offensively shooting 46 percent (22-for-48) from the field but were 4-of-14 from three and shot 74 percent at the foul line. Wykle led UMSL with 16 points and was joined in double figures by Troy Glover II with 15 while Prospere and Matt Enright added 11 and 10 points respectively.

S&T finished the game shooting 35 percent (23-for-65) from the field including 3-of-19 from three and shot 70 percent at the foul line. Young finished with a game-high 19 points while Sroka and Lovell Williams added 11 points each.

The Tritons will take on No. 16 and second seeded Lake Superior State in the Midwest Region Final on Tuesday evening at The Recreation and Athletic Center in Springfield, Ill., at 7 p.m.