KIRKSVILLE, Mo. - Setting the result aside, Thursday's showdown in Pershing Arena played out just like we thought it might. The GLVC West Division's two titans went tit for tat all night long and produced even more of a classic than the one we saw in Illinois back in December. Truman led by four, 90-86, with just under three minutes to play, but Quincy ended the game on an 11-2 run to outlast the homestanding Bulldogs, 97-92.

With the loss, Truman's winning streak was snapped at three to put it at 20-8 overall and 12-6 in the GLVC, while Quincy claimed the outright West Division title to improve to 24-5 on the season and 14-4 in league play. The Bulldogs now turn their attention to the GLVC Tournament as the six seed and will host 11th-seeded Missouri S&T on Sunday with tip set for 3 p.m. The Hawks earned the two seed and a bye to the quarterfinals, which will begin a week from today on March 2 in Evansville, Ind. inside the Ford Center. The GLVC's release and full bracket can be found by clicking HERE.

All eight of Truman's players who saw the court found the scoring column while six of them reached double-figures. Leading the way was Kyle Kanskie with 19, 16 of which came in the second half, on 6-of-7 shooting, 5-for-6 (tied career high for three-pointers made) from behind the arc and two makes in two attempts at the free throw line. Also scoring 10+ were Connor Erickson (15), Zach Fischer (15), Cory Myers (13), Jake Velky (13), and Dwight Sistrunk, Jr. (10). Fischer poured in 12 of his 15 in the second half and didn't miss a single field goal attempt during those 20 minutes going 5-of-5 in 17 minutes. After scoring in double-figures just four times in his first 20 games of the year, Fischer has seen an expanded role with the injury to Nathan Messer and more than taken advantage of it. In his last six contests, the St. Louis native has averaged 10.8 points and four boards per game. Off the bench, Billy Daniel led the way in both rebounds and blocks with five and three, respectively, while Myers was the ringleader in assists (7) and steals (3).

Looking at the team-to-head, it was an absolute slugfest in the paint, but Quincy came out on top by eight, 46-38. The Hawks also controlled fastbreak points to the tune of 19-9, but Truman had the advantage in points off turnovers (17-16), second-chance points (10-5) and bench points (36-10). Quincy outrebounded Truman by five, 27-22, and had 22 assists to the Bulldogs' 17. The Hawks connected on an absurd 64.8 percent (35-for-54) of their field goals, the highest for a Bulldog opponent since at least the 1996-97 season, the last time field goal percentage wasn't listed in the archives. Truman was good on 62.5 percent of its field goals in the second period, but it just wasn't enough.

The visitors were hot early and opened with a 12-2 run through the first 2:23 that forced head coach, Chris Foster, to use a 30-second timeout and talk things over. The home team responded by scoring 12 of the next 16 points and had cut the deficit to two, 16-14, with just under 13 minutes to play until halftime. Quincy extended its lead back to seven, 21-14, with five straight points, but once again, Truman took the punch and responded with a 9-2 spurt that knotted the game up at 23-23. The scoring was much more balanced through the rest of the half, but still in favor of the Hawks, 24-21, who went into the locker room up three, 47-44.

Just over four minutes into the second half, Quincy's advantage was back to nine, 61-52, before Truman began to heat up. The Bulldogs proceeded to rattle off 22 of the next 31 points and had their biggest lead of the day at four, 74-70. During that stretch, five different players scored for Truman, but Fischer and Kanskie led the way with eight apiece. After five more ties, the final one coming at 84-84 with 4:04 to go, the Bulldogs scored six of the next eight points to take another four-point advantage, 90-86, as mentioned above. However, then came that 11-2 run for the Hawks in which they were perfect from the floor (3-of-3) and the charity stripe (4-for-4).

Regular ticket policies will apply for Sunday's first-round game in Pershing Arena. Students get in free, season tickets are honored and faculty/staff get their two free tickets. Live stats, video and radio coverage will all be available like normal right here at TrumanBulldogs.com.

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