LIBERTY, Mo. - The Truman men's basketball team kept things rolling on Saturday with its fifth-straight win, this time thanks to a 15-point victory at William Jewell, 95-80. The Purple and White led for all 40 minutes and boasted five scorers in double-figures led by Nathan Messer's career high 28 points, the most by a Bulldog since Cole Myers put up 34 in Kirksville on Feb. 11 of last season against Wisconsin-Parkside.

With the win, Truman improved to 7-1 overall and 2-0 in the GLVC while William Jewell fell to 3-4 on the season and 0-2 in league play. That 2-0 mark equals the best start in conference action for the Bulldogs since the 1994-95 season. Messer made eight of his 14 attempts from the floor including seven makes in 12 looks from behind the arc, the most three-pointers made by a Bulldog all season.

After the sophomore transfer, Connor Erickson turned in his and Truman's second double-double of the year with 18 points and 10 rebounds to go with three steals and a block. The other three scorers with at least 10 points included Jake Velky with 15, Dwight Sistrunk, Jr. with 11 and Kyle Kanaskie with 10 off the bench. Sistrunk Jr. was the ringleader in assists with six while Cory Myers was responsible for seven steals, which ties the program record set by Scott Matthews on Nov. 20, 1993. As a team, Truman tallied 11 takeaways, which ties the season high set on Nov. 19 against Upper Iowa.

The Bulldogs came out swinging and scored the first 12 points of the game over the course of two minutes and 47 seconds. During that span, the visitors were 4-of-5 from the field with three of their 11 steals. The home team responded with a 14-5 run, though, and had pulled within three, 17-14, with just over 11 and a half minutes to play in the period. From that point until the halftime break, the scoring was much more balanced, but still in favor of Truman, 29-24. The Bulldogs went into the locker room with an eight-point advantage, 46-38.

The away team came out of the intermission with some fire and scored seven-straight points to increase its lead to 15, 53-38. After five-consecutive points by the hosts to cut the deficit back to 10, 53-43, Truman took back the momentum with yet another big spurt, this time 11-0 through just over three minutes. From then until the final buzzer, the margin was never slimmer than 10 points (82-72 and 83-73) and the Bulldogs ended with 95, their second-highest output of the season.

In the team head-to-head, Truman controlled points off turnovers (22-12), second-chance points (18-12), assists (17-11), and steals (11-7). The Bulldogs made 24 free throws (24-of-31) to just 16 by the Cardinals (16-for-22). In fact, over the final five minutes and change, to ice the game away, Truman was 16-of-18 at the charity stripe.

Next up, the Bulldogs will host Central Methodist on Tuesday inside Pershing Arena with the start time set for 7 p.m.

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