KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The Truman State University men's basketball team trailed host Rockhurst by eight points, 67-59, with just over two minutes left on Saturday afternoon before mounting a valiant comeback. The Bulldogs proceeded to outscore the Hawks by seven, 10-3, over the next 40 or so seconds to pull within one, 70-69, with 21.9 ticks remaining. However, Truman wouldn't score again (0-of-2 FT) and Rockhurst made five of its six free throw attempts to seal the six-point decision, 75-69.

Rockhurst (15-10, 9-6 GLVC) snapped a six-game losing streak against Truman and defeated the Bulldogs at home for the first time since Nov. 25, 1972 (76-62). The Hawks had lost five in a row at home vs. the Purple and White, but still trail the all-time series by 12, 27-15. On the other side, Truman (13-12, 8-7 GLVC) is now just 4-8 in true road games this season and falls to the No. 8 spot in the league's Point Rating System with three regular season games left.

Despite cashing in on just four of his 11 field goal attempts (36.4 percent), Brodric Thomas still finished with a team-high 18 points (9-of-11 FT), seven rebounds, two assists, two blocks, and a steal in 30 minutes. Next up was Cade McKnight who brought down a squad best nine rebounds to go with his 15 points while Taurin Hughes (pictured) was the final Bulldog in double-figures with 13. Turner Scott led Truman in both assists (3) and steals (2), but managed just five points on 2-for-6 shooting.

Thomas wasn't the only Bulldog that struggled to score as the team shot just 37.5 percent (21-of-56) as a whole including only 34.4 percent (11-for-32) in the first 20 minutes. That mark of 37.5 percent is Truman's worst on the road this season and second worst overall to just the 37 percent (20-of-54) against UMSL on Jan. 17. Nine of the Bulldogs' 12 losses (3-9 record) have come in games in which they shot less than 44 percent from the floor.

The first half was a tight one that saw four of the game's six ties and nine of its 10 lead changes. Once the game was tied for a third time at 9-9 just under five minutes in, Rockhurst scored 10 of the next 13 points to go up by seven, 19-12, with just over 10 minutes to play until half. From there until the intermission came one more tie (24-24) and five more lead changes before Truman was ahead at the buzzer, 33-31.

Out of the breather, the Bulldogs stretched their lead to as big as eight, 41-33, and held that lead for a majority of the second half. With just under seven minutes to go in the game, Rockhurst's Curtis Lewis (game-high 28 points) gave the Hawks their first lead of the second half, 57-56. Following the final two deadlocks at 57-57 and 59-59, Rockhurst scored eight-straight points to gain that eight-point advantage mentioned above, 67-59.

Next up, Truman will be off on Thursday before heading to Quincy in a week with the tip set for 3 p.m.

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