KIRKSVILLE, Mo. - The Truman State University men's basketball team splashed in 13 three-pointers, its most since Dec. 18 against Grand Valley State (eight games ago), to send former head coach, Chris Foster, and McKendree home with the loss. The Bulldogs roared out to a 17-point advantage at the break, 37-20, and cruised to a 23-point victory, 79-56.

Truman (10-10, 5-5 GLVC) entered this week having lost five games in a row and snapped out of that slump with back-to-back dominant performances. Prior to Thursday, the Bulldogs' six Division II wins had come by a combined 23 points. This week alone, the Purple and White were victorious by a combined margin of 48 points. On the other side, McKendree boards the bus home at 8-10 overall and 4-5 in GLVC action.

Taurin Hughes (pictured) racked up a team-high 20 points thanks in part to six triples for his fifth career 20-point effort and third of the season. Brodric Thomas and Nathan Messer also scored in double-figures with 15 points apiece. After 12 points on Thursday, Messer turned in consecutive double-figure efforts for the second time this season to inch closer to a season average of 10 points per game at 9.9. Cade McKnight and Thomas tied for the squad lead in rebounds with five while Thomas was on top of assists with seven and McKnight was the ringleader in steals with three.

In the team head-to-head, Truman assisted on 17 of its 27 field goals, but McKendree managed just five assists on 19 made shots. After Illinois Springfield's six assists on Thursday, this is the first time a Bulldog opponent has had six or fewer helpers in two-consecutive games since Feb. 11 and 16 of 2017. McKendree turned the ball over 16 times (tied for second-most this season) and Truman contributed to that number with nine steals (second-best this season). The Bulldogs turned those 16 turnovers into 22 points including 17 on 11 giveaways in the first 20 minutes alone.

Out of the gate, McKendree struck first on a Nolan Gerling (12 points and 10 rebounds) layup before Thomas answered with an emphatic one-handed dunk at the other end. The Bearcats' final two leads would come at 4-2 (Gerling layup) and 6-5 (Nate Michael jumper) before the Bulldogs responded with 14 of the next 16 points to go up 11, 19-8, with 12:05 left in the period. Gerling then converted a pair of free throws to cut the margin to single digits for the final time at 19-10 and then the home team turned on the jets. Ten-straight Truman points pushed its lead back to 19, 29-10, before it even went ahead by 21, 37-16, with 2:11 until the break.

In the second half, McKendree cut it to as close as 10 on two different occasions including 49-39 at the 11:24 mark and 52-42 with just over 10 minutes remaining. Truman's largest lead was 23 and came twice including 71-48 (4:45 left) and the final score.

Next up, Truman will travel to Rolla and Missouri S&T (3-14, 1-8 GLVC) on the final day of January with tip set for 7:30 p.m. After a loss at Bellarmine on Saturday, the Miners have lost three in a row and trail the all-time series with the Bulldogs, 97-49.

#BewareOfDog