KIRKSVILLE, Mo. - The Truman men's basketball team splashed in a school-record 20 three-pointers and came within six points of tying the program's best mark (1978) on Saturday as it made quick work of Central Christian College of the Bible, 122-35.
With the win, the Bulldogs improved to 10-3 while it was just an exhibition for the Saints, who sit at 3-5 overall. Prior to this matchup,
Taurin Hughes (pictured) had never scored more than six points in a game, and he did that against guess who? Central Christian on Nov. 18 of last season. Fast forward to Saturday and Hughes was unconscious. The 5-11 guard poured in a game-high 22 points on 7-of-9 shooting from behind the arc to go with one free throw make, a rebound and one assist. The Lee's Summit, Mo. native made his first six looks from behind the arc and had his own bench going bananas with each swish.
Hughes was one of seven players in double-figures as he was joined by
Connor Erickson (19 points, 10 rebounds - third double-double of the year),
Zach Fischer (14),
Jake Velky (12),
Jacob Socha (11 - career high),
Cory Myers (10), and
Nikola Pesic (10 - tied career high). Pesic and Myers were the ringleaders in the assist department with five apiece and Erickson was on top in blocks with two while
Dwight Sistrunk, Jr. and Erickson each had two steals to their name.
In the first half, after Truman opened with a 7-2 run, Central Christian cut the deficit to three, 7-4, the smallest it would be for the rest of the game. From that point until the end of the first half, the Bulldogs outscored the Saints 51-11 and headed into the locker room up 43, 58-15. The Purple and White put up even more points in the second half with 64 to the visitors' 20 before the final margin of 87.
On the day, the home team shot 64.9 percent (48-of-74) from the field including a blistering 71 percent (22-for-31) through the first 20 minutes. In the team head-to-head, Truman held a comfortable advantage in points off turnovers (30-2), second-chance points (20-2), bench points (66-2), points in the paint (52-10), fast-break points (23-0), rebounds (46-21), assists (31-4), and steals (10-2). Those 31 helpers are tied for second in school history and two shy of the record set in 1993.
Next up, it's Great Lakes Valley Conference play for the Bulldogs, who travel to Illinois Springfield on Jan. 5 with tip set for 7:30 p.m.
