KIRKSVILLE, Mo. – The Truman Men's Basketball team withstood the Pittsburg State University pressure and Seth Jackson scored 17 points as the Bulldogs evened their MIAA record at 1-1 with a 66-57 win over the Gorillas in Pershing Arena.
The two teams traded the lead early on with Pitt (5-3, 1-1 MIAA) taking their largest lead at just four points with 13:55 left in the first half before Marek Bush (Kansas City, Mo., Lincoln Prep) sparked the Bulldogs (3-6, 1-1 MIAA) on a 16-0 run that essentially put the game out of reach. Bush scored two straight hoops to start the run and Patrick Burmester (DeWitt, Iowa, Central HS) added another four points to sandwich a pair of three-pointers by Andrew Vander Zwaag (Johnston, Iowa, Johnston HS) and EJ Hicks (Davenport, Iowa, Davenport Central) during the run.
The Gorillas cut it to four just before the end of the half and two with the first possession of the second half but Mike Carlson got a basket and Seth Jackson punched in a pair of free throws to establish the lead for Truman.
Jackson (St. Louis, Mo., CBC) later scored four in-a-row to put Truman back up by 11 with 6:34 left.
JaVon McGee got a steal and a layup to trim the margin to six but that was as close as the Gorillas would get in the final 4:31 as Jackson answered the make with his team high 17th point of the night.
Mike Carlson (Superior, Wisc., Marshall HS) and Burmester also scored 10 apiece as Truman shot 51% from the field for the game and made 22-of-30 free throws for a 73% showing.
McGee paced the Gorillas with 15 points but as a team, Pittsburg shot just 36% and were 4-of-18 from beyond the arc.
The Bulldogs will host Southwest Baptist on Wednesday night at 7:30 p.m.
