KIRKSVILLE, Mo.—The Truman Men's Basketball team returned to their home court and upheld their perfect record as they defeated Rockhurst 81-60. This win avenged a three point loss in Kansas City to the Hawks earlier in the season. Alex McQuinn set a career high with 12 rebounds and five Bulldogs reached double figures: Brodric Thomas with 18, Turner Scott with 14, Cade McKnight and Hunter Strait with 13 each and Mark Rogers with 11; which tied his season high.
Rockhurst got on the board first with a three pointer by Chris Hamil, and over the first five minutes the teams went back and forth tying the game and giving and taking the lead. With the Hawks up 15-10 wth 10:28 to go in the half, Truman went on a 9-2 run starting with a layup from McKnight and culminating with free throws from Strait to take their first lead since 7-5. The Hawks fought back to tie the game at 21 with 4:47 to go, and from there Truman closed the half on a 8-3 run with McQuinn and Rogers each getting two buckets in the paint. The Bulldogs went to intermission with a 29-24 lead.
Truman wasted little time extending their lead in the second half. Scott hit a three for the first points of the second half, and at the 16:09 mark of the half Thomas drained a three to give the Bulldogs their first double digit lead of the game at 37-26. Rockhurst cut the lead back to single digits but Thomas drilled another three with 13:41 to go that put the Bulldogs back up 12 at 45-33 and TSU led by double digits the rest of the game. With 7:27 to go the Hawks got to within ten at 59-49, but Truman went on the decisive backbreaking run to seal the win. The next 12 points went to the Bulldogs to take a 22 point lead at 71-49. Truman would lead by as many as 25 at 75-50 and cruised the rest of the way to remain unbeaten at Pershing Arena this season.
The Bulldogs shot 54% for the game, while limiting the Hawks to just 38.9% shooting from the field. Truman made eight three pointers to just five for Rockhurst.
Truman will put their 7-0 home record on the line again Saturday as they take on William Jewell, whom they beat by 15 points in Liberty earlier this season.
