KIRKSVILLE, Mo. - After a back-and-forth eight minutes and change at the beginning of the game, Truman men's basketball used a 19-7 first-half run to take a commanding lead over Hannibal-LaGrange, and never looked back. The Bulldogs cruised to a 99-68 win over the Trojans in their first night game inside Pershing Arena and did so with six scorers in double-figures.

With the win, Truman improved to 4-1 and Hannibal-LaGrange remained 4-1 as it was just an exhibition for the Trojans. Leading the scoring for the Bulldogs was Cory Myers (18), Nathan Messer (18), Jake Velky (16), Billy Daniel (13), Jack Green (pictured/11), and Zach Fischer (10). Fischer was one board shy of a double-double to go with two assists and one block in just 13 minutes of action. Dwight Sistrunk, Jr. led the squad in assists with five while he and Messer each notched a pair of steals. Sistrunk Jr. also tallied one of the team's two blocks, the other coming from Fischer.

For the team statistics, Truman shot a red-hot 54.4 percent from the floor (37-of-68) including 51.7 percent from deep (15-for-29). Hannibal-LaGrange managed just 37.1 percent (23-of-62) and 25 percent (6-for-24) in those categories, respectively. The Bulldogs controlled the action in second-chance points (18-9), bench points (41-25), points in the paint (42-28), and rebounds (48-29).

As mentioned above, the scoring was even through the first eight minutes and 22 seconds before the home team began to really feel it. During the 19-7 run that put Truman up 31-18, five different Bulldogs found the bottom of the net and the Purple and White were 7-of-12 from the field with three steals. The visitors then scored four points in a row to cut the deficit back to nine, 31-22, but it would never get any closer than that. Truman outscored Hannibal-LaGrange 20-16 over the final six and a half minutes of the period and went into the locker room with a 17-point advantage, 51-34.

Out of the intermission, the hosts scored seven-straight points to make the margin 24, 58-34, before the away team tried its best to make it a game again with a 12-5 run. At that point, the lead for the Bulldogs was back down to 17, 63-46, but they didn't let it get any smaller than that. From that point on, Truman's biggest lead was 30 on two occasions (91-61 and 93-63) before the final margin of 31 points, 99-68.

Next up, Truman will enjoy Thanksgiving before traveling to Lincoln on Saturday. Start time inside the Blue Tigers' Jason Gym is set for 4 p.m.