KIRKSVILLE, Mo. - Despite playing without two of its top five scorers (Jake Velky and Jack Green) and giving up 60 second-half points, the Truman State University men's basketball team did just enough on Thursday night inside Pershing Arena. Much like the game in Liberty, the Bulldogs survived a late charge from the Cardinals and held on for the five-point victory, 90-85.

With one game left to play in the regular season, Truman improved to 17-9 overall, 12-5 in the GLVC and 14-3 (eight straight) in the all-time series against William Jewell. Meanwhile, the Cardinals dropped to 19-8 on the year, 9-8 in league play and have lost two games in a row.

Hours after being named to the CoSIDA Academic All-District Team (story), Zach Fischer churned out his 16th career double-double and 15th of the season with 26 points (career high), 14 rebounds, three steals, and a block on 12-of-16 (both career highs) shooting from the field. Those 15 double-doubles are the most by a Bulldog in a single season in 37 years since David Winslow had 17 of them in 1980-81. Fischer dominated the first half and almost had a double-double at the break with 18 points and eight rebounds in the first 20 minutes.

Brodric Thomas played the role of stat-sheet stuffer once again thanks to 16 points, seven boards, six dimes, one block, and only one turnover. Nine of those 16 points came at the free throw line where Thomas went 9-for-16.

In the absence of Velky and Green, Turner Scott (pictured) played the best game of his young career and sixth man, Jacob Socha, brought much-needed minutes off the bench. Scott poured in a career-high 21 points in a game-high 39 minutes, which is also a personal best. Socha scored a personal-best 12 points, all of which came in the second half, on 4-of-6 shooting, two three-pointers and a pair of free throws. Scott and Socha provided their biggest lift in the second half when they combined for 26 of Truman's 49 points.

William Jewell averages more points per game than any other team in the conference (86.4) and is second when it comes to three-pointers made (298). Thursday, the Cardinals were at it again with 85 points and 13 triples (13-for-29/44.8 percent) as Truman struggled from behind the arc with only five makes in 24 attempts for a cold clip of 20.8 percent. The Bulldogs made up for those struggles and won the game at the charity stripe where they were 23-of-32 (71.9 percent) including 21-for-28 (75 percent) in the second half. Truman also made up for the lack of triples with a severe advantage in points in the paint, 50-28.

Both ties and all seven of the game's lead changes came in the first 10 minutes and change. With 9:29 to go until the intermission, Truman was ahead of William Jewell by two, 18-16, after a Fischer layup that came in the midst of a 16-0 run for the good guys that put them up 11, 27-16, at the 6:37 mark. From there until the end of the half, the scoring was much more balanced, but still in favor of the Bulldogs to the tune of 14-9. Heading into the locker room, the Purple and White's advantage was 16, 41-25. In those first 20 minutes, it was all about the Bulldogs as they held the Cardinals to just 34.6 percent shooting (9-of-26) and forced 10 turnovers with just three of their own.

Out of the break, the teams continued to go tit for tat, but Truman took its biggest advantage of the game at 18, 52-34, with just over six minutes gone by in the period. Over the next eight minutes and change, William Jewell outscored the home team by 15, 28-13, and had cut the deficit down to three, 65-62, with just over five minutes left. The Bulldogs stood tall and rattled off 17 of the next 26 points to push their lead back to 11, 82-71, at the 1:17 mark. The Cardinals weren't done, though, and splashed in back-to-back-to-back treys to make it an 82-80 game with just 50 seconds remaining. The visitors would never get closer than that as the Purple and White iced the five-point win with eight free throws made in that final stretch.

Next up for Truman is the regular season-finale and Senior Day on Saturday against Illinois Springfield with the tip set for 3 p.m. Fischer and Connor Lusso will be recognized for their time in the Purple and White before things get underway.

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