Kirksville, Mo. - Thursday night against Missouri S&T in Pershing Arena, the Truman State University men's basketball team turned what was a one-possession game at the half into a rout with 64 second-half points. The Bulldogs cruised past the Miners, 101-66, and reached the century mark in back-to-back games for the first time since the 1990-91 season when it was done twice.

Truman improved to 7-5 overall and 2-1 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference while Missouri S&T has dropped three in a row to fall to 2-9 on the season and 0-3 in league play. The Bulldogs 18 three-pointers are tied for the second most in program history, 13 of which came in the second half, while their 40 attempts are in sole possession of second place all time.

Jake Velky's 19 points led the way and were followed by five more scorers in double-figures including Nathan Messer (18), Brodric Thomas (17), Zach Fischer (14), Jack Green (10), and Taurin Hughes (10). With his 15 rebounds, Fischer earned his ninth career double-double and eighth of the season to put his redshirt-senior averages at 18.3 points and 10.9 boards per contest. Messer paced the squad in assists with six (career high) and Thomas continues to stuff the stat sheet night in and night out. Along with his 17 points, the third-year man out of Bolingbrook, Ill. finished with seven rebounds, five assists, four steals, and one block.

Jacob Socha turned in 11 good minutes off the bench with eight points, four assists (career high), two steals (ties career high), and a block (ties career high). Turner Scott was unable to find the scoring column, but still made a difference with five dimes and four boards.

In the team head-to-head, it wasn't just points in which the discrepancy was glaring. Truman out-rebounded Missouri S&T by 21, 46-25, and had 28 dimes to the Miners' 11. Those 28 assists are tied for the seventh most in school history. The Bulldogs also boasted a severe advantage in points off turnovers (23-11), second-chance points (13-6), bench points (33-7), and fast-break points (18-4).

In the first half, Missouri S&T had the lead for the first six minutes and change and was ahead by two, 14-12, at the 14:30 mark. However, that score came in the midst of a 7-0 run for Truman that put it in the lead for the first time, 15-14. The Miners responded with an 11-2 run and took their biggest advantage of the game at eight, 25-17. Velky, Thomas and Fischer proceeded to hit back-to-back-to-back triples and the home team was back out in front by one, 26-25. After three more lead changes and a tie at 30-30, the visitors took their final advantage of the night and scored five-straight points to go up five, 35-30. The good guys closed the half with a 7-0 spurt and led by two, 37-35, heading into the locker room.

Truman rattled off the first five points out of the intermission, was up seven at 42-35, and the margin was never smaller than five after that. The Bulldogs scored at least seven points in a row three times including a 10-0 run and 12 in a row to finish the game.

Next up, the Purple and White will look for their first-ever win against Lewis (0-5) on Saturday with the tip set for 3 p.m. inside Pershing.

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