ST. LOUIS -- The University of Missouri-St. Louis men's basketball team ran into a tough Upper Iowa squad in a 79-67 defeat on Sunday (Jan. 4) at the Mark Twain Building. The Tritons drop to 9-6, 3-3 GLVC while the Peacocks improve to 10-2, 5-0 GLVC.

UIU hit six of its first nine shots to start the game building an early 10-point lead less than seven minutes into the contest.

UMSL cut the deficit in half with a 5-0 run highlighted by an old fashioned three-point play from Makeer Makeer at the 12:08 mark of the half. That would be as close as the Tritons got the rest of the half as the Peacocks led by as many as 14 in the stanza.

UMSL cut the deficit to 10 less than two minutes into the second but a 12-2 run from Upper Iowa gave its biggest lead of the contest at 58-38 at the 16 minute mark. The Tritons cut the margin to 10 a couple of more times but were unable to get the deficit into single digits as the Peacocks had an answer to each UMSL run.

The Tritons shot 46 percent (25-for-55) from the field in the contest but were 1-of-12 from downtown and shot 64 percent at the foul line. Makeer led UMSL with 16 points and seven rebounds while Jake Hamilton and Vincent Davis III had 14 points each.

Upper Iowa shot 44 percent (27-for-61) from the field including 10-of-24 from beyond the arc and shot 88 percent at the foul line while outrebounding the Tritons 35-to-34. The Peacocks had five players reach double figures in scoring led by Jack Miller with 16 points while Trey Lewis and Eric Kenesie had 12 points each and Kyle Hrncir had a double-double with 10 points and 15 rebounds and Tate Peterson added 10 points off the bench.

UMSL returns to the court on Thursday (Jan. 8) as it travels to Kansas City to take on Rockhurst at 7:30 p.m. from in Mason-Halpin Fieldhouse.