KANSAS CITY, Mo.—After starting the new year with a win over conference rival William Jewell, the Truman men's basketball team looked to make it six wins in seven games as they took on Rockhurst in Kansas City. It was a tight game throughout, but with the final seconds ticking down Hunter Strait couldn't connect on a three that would have sent the game to overtime and the Hawks held on for a 56-53 win.

Hunter Strait got Truman on the board with a three pointer to knot the game at three at the 18:06 mark of the half, but from there Rockhurst took back the lead at 6-3 and would hold the lead the rest of the half. The Hawks led by as many as 11 in the frame, but a 7-2 run from Truman over the last 3:56 of the half would close the gap to six. Strait drained another three, followed by buckets from Alex McQuinn and Turner Scott. Ultimately the Hawks took a 29-23 lead into intermission. While the Bulldogs struggled in the first half as they were limited to just 9-26 shooting from the floor (34.6%), but they locked down the Hawks who were 10-27 (37%) from the floor in the half.

Early in the second half the Hawks expanded their lead to seven at 38-31, but from there Truman went on a 10-3 run to tie the game up again at 41 each. Brodric Thomas made two threes in the stretch, and had eight points in the run. The game would be tied at 43 and 45, but ultimately the Bulldogs could not take the lead and over the last 7:34 the Hawks held onto their lead. With 13 seconds to go, Cade McKnight made it 54-53 after going 1-2 from the line. The Hawks made two free throws on the other end to go up three points and Strait's last gasp didn't go as Rockhurst held on.

Thomas led the team with 16 points. McQuinn tied with Mark Rogers and Luke TerHark with six rebounds. McQuinn also set a new career high with three steals.

Truman will come home this week for two game GLVC games against Missouri S&T Thursday (7:30 p.m.) and Maryville (3:00 p.m.).