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Truman State University Athletics

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Tim Barcus - University Photographer
75
Winner Truman TSU 10-4 (2-2 GLVC)
71
McKendree MCK 6-4 (0-3 GLVC)
Winner
Truman TSU
10-4 (2-2 GLVC)
75
Final
71
McKendree MCK
6-4 (0-3 GLVC)
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Truman TSU 34 41 75
McKendree MCK 36 35 71

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | | Tyler Madsen, Athletics Communications

MBB Recap: Truman 75, McKendree 71

NCAA Div. II Men's Basketball Final: Truman 75, McKendree 71
Box Score (PDF) || Season Stats (PDF) || Career Stats
LEBANON, Ill. - - Life on the road in the Great Lakes Valley Conference is rarely glamorous, but the Truman men's basketball team found a way off the McKendree (Ill.) University campus with a hard-fought 75-71 victory in its pocket on Thursday night. The win improved the squad's record to 10-4 overall on the season and evened the team's GLVC mark to 2-2.
 
The Bulldogs struggled from the floor at the outset, hitting just 2-of-10 in the opening minutes as the Bearcats (6-4, 0-3 GLVC) built their largest lead of the night at 12-4 with 14:26 to play in the first half. However, Truman relied on the three-point shot to creep back into the game – getting four first-half triples from senior Reed Mells and a collective 7-of-15 team effort from long range in the first 20 minutes to go into the half down just two at 36-34.
 
McKendree held on to a narrow margin, keeping a 53-52 lead with 9:14 to play before Truman re-gained the lead on a pair of Cory Myers free throws at the 8:59 mark of the second half. The Bulldogs would never give up the lead the rest of the way – building the gap to as many as eight with 4:17 on the clock – while icing the game at the foul line with a perfect 14-for-14 effort in the second half.
 
"I was really proud of how we battled and stuck with it tonight," head coach Chris Foster said in his postgame interview with 104.7 KRES-FM. "McKendree has great size, and I felt we didn't finish plays the way we needed to, but to our guys' credit we stuck in there, got into the bonus, and found a way to get a road win."
 
Senior Seth Jackson, who was held to just two first-half points on three field goal attempts, finished the game as Truman's leading scorer with 17 – hitting 6-of-14 field goals (1-of-2 three-point) and all four free throws to jump into the program's all-time top-10 career scoring chart with 1,283. Mells added 16 points and four assists – including a pair of free throws with 13 seconds left to give Truman a two-possession lead – while junior Cole Myers poured in 13 points and six rebounds in 23 minutes off the bench.
 
Redshirt sophomore Cory Myers finished with eight points, with sophomore Billy Daniel adding six points of his own. Junior Andrew Vander Zwaag, sophomore Connor Erickson, and senior Patrick Burmester each chipped in five points, with Vander Zwaag matching Cole Myers for the team-high with six boards.
 
Truman shot 38.5% from the floor but did hit 10-of-22 (46%) of its three-point tries. The Bulldogs also finished 15-of-16 (93.8%) from the foul line and committed just 10 turnovers (two in the second half). McKendree, meanwhile, shot 48.2% overall and went just 1-for-7 from three-point range. The Bearcats – who entered the game as a 57% free throw shooting team – defied all paper-logic and hit 16-of-20 (80%) of its charity stripe tries to keep the game tight throughout.
 
The Bulldogs return to action on Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m. when they close the weekend trip with a contest at Illinois Springfield. The Prairie Stars fell to Quincy 87-76 at home on Thursday night to drop to 6-5 overall (0-3 GLVC).
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