QUINCY, Ill. - The Truman State University men's basketball team just finished a stretch where it played eight of 10 games on the road, went 7-3 in that span and capped it off with a win at Quincy inside Pepsi Arena. The Bulldogs led wire to wire on Saturday with a lead as big as 25 and cruised to a 14-point victory over the Hawks, 86-72.

Truman (15-8, 10-4 GLVC) has now won three in a row and four of its last five while Quincy (7-17, 3-12 GLVC) has dropped five straight since a three-game winning streak in late January. The Bulldogs have earned a record of 7-3 in true road games this year and get to come home for the final four outings of the regular season.

Saturday against its rival, five of the eight players that got on the floor for Truman scored in double-figures including Turner Scott (pictured/17 points), Jake Velky (17), Zach Fischer (13), Brodric Thomas (11), and Taurin Hughes (11). Scott seems to be getting comfortable at just the right time as he's scored 10 or more points in two of the last three games after doing so just twice in hist first 18 efforts.

Truman shot just 45.6 percent (31-of-68) from the field and 30.4 percent (7-for-23) from three-point land, but made up for it on the defensive end. The Bulldogs forced 24 Quincy turnovers, which is the most by a Purple and White opponent in more than two years (24 by Missouri S&T on Jan. 28, 2016). Truman turned those 24 giveaways into 36 (!!!) points and turned the ball over just eight times in their own right. The Bulldogs also racked up 15 steals, their highest number in that category since Dec. 31, 2014 against Hannibal-LaGrange (16). In fact, Truman has never had that many takeaways vs. a conference opponent.

Right away, Truman set the tone by scoring the first seven points, five of which were at the free throw line, and that came in the midst of a 10-2 run over the first five minutes. Quincy responded with a 9-2 spurt of its own to cut the margin to one, 12-11, before the Bulldogs absolutely took off. Through the next nine minutes and change, the good guys outscored their opponent 27-4 and just like that, they were up 24, 39-15, with 1:50 left in the first half.

After the halftime score of 42-19, Truman pushed its advantage to 25 on three different occasions, the last being 46-21, but Quincy didn't just close up shop. The Hawks rattled off 30 of the next 46 points and their deficit was down to 11, 62-51, at the nine-minute mark. The Bulldogs countered with an 11-2 run to slam the door before the 14-point decision at the end.

As mentioned above, Truman will get to play its next four inside Pershing Arena beginning with Wisconsin-Parkside on Thursday and tip is set for 7:30 p.m. The Rangers are just 9-15 overall, but have a .500 mark of 7-7 in league play that includes wins over then-No. 1 Bellarmine on Jan. 13 and then-No. 25 William Jewell five days later.

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