KIRKSVILLE, Mo.—The Truman Men's Basketball team suffered its first two defeats of the season this past week as they fell on the road to Northwest Missouri State (ranked #2 in this week's NABC poll) and Upper Iowa (#19). The 4-2 Bulldogs remained ranked in this week's poll, coming in at #20 as they take on Missouri-St. Louis and Maryville at Pershing Arena.
Against the Bearcats Truman shot a better percentage but ultimately the hosts would prevail in a tightly contested game. Cade McKnight led the Bulldogs with 25 points and seven rebounds while Dylan Peeters racked up a career high five assists and joined McKnight in double figures with ten points. Keaton Mitchell was the third player in double figures with ten as well.
Against Upper Iowa the Peacocks got on the Bulldogs early and put the game out of reach. Once again it was McKnight leading the way with 17 points and seven boards while Sam Lock came off the bench to score 14 points, with Eric Northweather scoring 11 and then Peeters and Mitchell each getting ten.
Player Notes
McKnight is second in the GLVC with 21.3 points per game, which is tied for 35th nationally. He leads the conference in field goal percentage by a wide margin at .677, over 80 points ahead of second place. He's also sixth in the GLVC from the foul line with a .838 shooting percentage from the charity stripe.
Masen Miller leads the Bulldogs with 18 made threes and 213 minutes played. He's averaging 35.5 minutes a game, which is fourth in the GLVC, and is tied for the highest three point shooting percentage in the conference at .439.
Hunter Strait has two eight assist games this year, which is a career high. He is currently third in the GLVC with 4.7 assists per game, trailing only Mitch Ganote of Southwest Baptist and Jamaurie Coakley of Quincy.
Peeters remains in the top five of the GLVC in rebounds with 7.7 per game after leading the conference in that category a season ago. He's reached double digit rebounds twice, with a season high 13 against Pitt State.
Elijah Hazekamp is averaging 9.5 points per game and also is third in rebounds with 5.7 per game. He also has 17 assists and two steals on the season.
Northweather played a career high 18 minutes against Pitt State and scored a career high six points. He's scored 15 points in four games and grabbed eight rebounds. He also has three blocked shots, which leads the team.
Keaton Mitchell has now scored ten points in three straight games, and was tied with McKnight for the team lead at the half against NWMSU with ten points. He's also grabbed four boards each of the past two games.
Trey Shearer scored 12 against Missouri Southern for his first career points, and then scored seven against NWMSU. The true freshman has seven assists and seven rebounds on the season as well.
Sam Nissen saw double digit minutes in both games last week, with 10 against NWMSU and then 13 against UIU. He racked up five assists and five points in the two games.
Sam Lock scored his first points as a Bulldog on Saturday against Upper Iowa with 14 in 22 minutes of action. He also grabbed six rebounds, blocked a shot and had two steals.
Series History with Missouri-St. Louis: The two have met 46 times, dating back to 1970. The Tritons won the first matchup 100-77 in St. Louis, and took the first four meetings. While UMSL had the edge early, Truman has had the edge recently as they have won six of the last eight meetings between the two, including the last three. Overall the Tritons still have the all time edge 27-19. Truman took the only meeting last year 81-69 in St. Louis.
Look at the Tritons: The Tritons were picked ahead of the Bulldogs in the preseason GLVC Central division poll and have opened the season 5-1, with their only loss coming to Northwest Missouri State. Marty Jackson leads the team with 16.5 points per game and 7.3 rebounds per game, while Yaakema Rose leads the team with just over three assists per game. Four players are averaging double figures: Jackson, Rose (11.5), Jose Grubbs (12.0) and Atavian Butler (10.7).
Series history with Upper Iowa: The two teams met for the first time in 2003 with Truman winning 83-69. Truman has won 11 of 15 meetings, including ten of 12 since joining the GLVC. Last year UM gave Truman their lone regular season loss 90-83 in St. Louis, but Truman returned the favor with a 72-47 victory in Kirksville.
Look at the Saints: Under second year coach Jesse Shaw, the Saints have gotten off to a hot start at 6-1. Their lone defeat so far came early in the season against Walsh, but since then have won five straight—including their GLVC opener at Lindenwood Tuesday night. Ari Jackson and Cameron Scales lead the team with 12.9 and 12.7 points per game, respectively, while Kelvin Sims also averaged double figures with ten points. Scales leads the team with 6.2 rebounds per game and Daniel Farris leads with four assists per game.
Up Next: Truman will play one more game before Christmas as they take on Central Christian College of the Bible on December 11 in Pershing Arena. From there their next game will be December 29 against Grandview University and then in January the GLVC slate resumes.
