KIRKSVILLE, Mo. - Aside from a lone lead for the Truman State University men's basketball team at 3-2 and a pair of ties, Cedarville controlled Saturday's affair inside Pershing Arena. The Bulldogs made 50 percent (27-of-54) of their field goal attempts, but the Yellow Jackets converted on a ridiculous 57.7 percent (30-for-52) of their looks to win it, 91-84.

Taurin Hughes (pictured) poured in a career high 26 points thanks in part to eight three-pointers on 12 attempts. Those eight triples are tied for sixth in program history and are the most by a Bulldog since Andrew Vander Zwaag racked up nine of them on Jan. 9, 2016. The redshirt senior also finished with a game high four steals, four assists and three rebounds.

Turner Scott also scored in double-figures for the second-straight game with 13, eight of which came in the second half, and Nathan Messer added 11, all of which were in the first period. The Purple and White's other leaders included Cade McKnight with four rebounds and Hunter Strait with six assists.

In the team head-to-head, Truman's bench outscored Cedarville by nine, 20-11, but the Yellow Jackets made up for it in points off turnovers, 24-11. Cedarville shot well for the entire game, but especially in the second half when it was 17-of-28 for 60.7 percent.

Early on in the first half, Cedarville led by one, 8-7, before embarking on a 15-5 run that lasted nearly three minutes and put it ahead by 11, 23-12. Jacob Socha then hit a trey, Messer converted a layup and Mark Rogers added a deuce to cut the margin to four, 23-19. However, the Yellow Jackets then pushed their lead back to 10 twice at 31-21 and 34-24, but the Bulldogs had one first-half push left. They scored 13 of the next 17 points to pull within one, 38-37, at the 1:21 mark. A Cedarville free throw gave it a two-point advantage, 39-37, heading into the locker room.

After the intermission, the visitors went back ahead by eight at 45-37 and 47-39 before the home team scored nine of the next 11 points to get it to one again, 49-48. Then came the game's two deadlocks at 49-49 and 54-54, but the away team took the lead and didn't look back. From there until the end of the game, the margin was as little as two on three occasions, but never smaller.

Truman now hits the road for the first time as it travels to No. 5 Northwest Missouri State on Friday with the tip set for 7 p.m.

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