KIRKSVILLE, Mo.—The Truman Men's Basketball team came into today looking to make history. In program history they had never won 14 games in conference play, and sitting at 13 had the chance to do just that. They also could complete a perfect 11-0 record in home games, and accomplished both feats by defeating Southwest Baptist 83-59. It is the first time Truman has gone undefeated at home since the 1946-47 season.
Truman scored the first seven points of the game, Cade McKnight got the first bucket, followed by a three from Luke TerHark and a jumper from Brodric Thomas. The Bulldogs expanded their lead to double digits at 12-2 as McKnight picked up his second bucket of the game, and the Bulldogs never looked back.
The closest that SBU would get was within two points at 14-12, but each time the Bearcats would get within striking distance the Bulldogs would answer and continue to expand their lead. From 14-12, Truman went on a 16-5 run over the course of seven minutes to jump up to a 13 point edge. Hunter Strait drained back to back threes to give Truman their largest lead of the half at 30-17. Ultimately Truman went to the half with a nine point edge at 39-30.
Early in the second half Truman was up 11 at 43-32, when a 6-0 run from SBU trimmed the deficit to five. However, the Bulldogs answered once again with a three from Turner Scott, a jumper from Hunter Strait and a monster jam from Alex McQuinn to go up 12. The run continued with Scott and Thomas making baskets to push the Truman lead to 16. Truman led by double digits the rest of the way, leading by as many as 27—following a three from TerHark with 1:45 to go to make it 80-53. Truman cruised the rest of the way to the historic win.
Fittingly, Thomas led the team in points with 19 an in assists with seven in his final game at Pershing Arena. He grabbed six boards, trailing only McQuinn's seven.
The Bulldogs maintained pace with Missouri-St. Louis for the best conference record in the GLVC with today's win. Next week they take on Maryville and Missouri S&T to close out the regular season and are still in the mix for the top seed in the GLVC Tournament.
