JOPLIN, Mo.—The Truman Men's Basketball team won its third straight game to start the season as they defeated Pittsburg State 71-62; scoring 45 in the first half as they shot 68% from the floor in the first half and 60% from downtown. Hunter Strait led the team with 20 points while Cade McKnight scored 18 and Masen Miller reached double figures with 14.
The early minutes of the first half were nip and tuck between the two, as Strait got on the board for the first time with a three to put Truman up 5-2, and then later he put Truman back in the lead 7-6. But the Gorillas didn't give the Bulldogs much breathing room as it was a one point game—then a 5-0 spurt with Strait hitting another three and Eric Northweather getting a layup pushed the lead to six at 24-18, the largest Bulldog lead to that point in the game. Truman would lead by as many as nine in the half, but would only take a five point lead into the break at 45-40.
Truman got the first four points of the second half as Dylan Peeters and Masen Miller hit the first two shots of the half to push the lead back to nine. With 14:37 to go, Truman got their first double digit lead of the game as McKnight made a layup to make it 54-44. But the Gorillas would not go quietly as they went on a 10-3 run to make it 57-54. The Bulldogs answered with a 10-0 run of their own as Miller made three free throws, Northweather got two buckets in the paint and Peeters got a dunk and Strait hit 1-2 from the foul line to take their biggest lead at 67-54 with 6:31 to go. With 4:17 to go, it was 69-60 Bulldogs, but the defenses for both sides stepped up over the last few minutes as both teams only got two more points the rest of the game as the Bulldogs held on to win.
Peeters led the team with 13 rebounds and Miller led the team with five assists. Northweather set a new career high in points for the second game in a row with six. For the game, Truman shot 51% from the floor (26-51) and 38.9% from downtown (7-18). Elijah Hazekamp and Keaton Mitchell both recorded blocked shots, and Trey Shearer dished out three assists with two boards.
The Bulldogs will have a short turnaround as they take on Missouri Western tomorrow afternoon at 3:30 p.m.
