EVANSVILLE, Ind.--The Truman State Men's Basketball team kept its season going with an 82-63 win over Ashland in the NCAA Regional semifinal (round of 32). Turner Scott led the way with 19 points, hitting four times from downtown, Masen Miller racked up 18 with six triples. For the game Truman shot 15-25 from downtown, and 28-53 overall from the field. It was the first Bulldogs NCAA Tournament win since the 1999 Final Four run.
Truman opened the first half with the first six points of the game, Elijah Hazekamp got Truman on the board with a free throw; followed by the first trey from Scott. With 14:35 to go in the half, Hazekamp hit from downtown to extend the Bulldogs lead to double digits at 16-6. Ashland hit a three on the other end and Miller answered with his second triple of the night to push it back to 19-9. With 9:10 to go Hunter Strait hit from downtown to give Truman their largest lead of the first half at 26-14. But as the half wound down, Ashland pulled to within three at 34-31. But Scott hit a layup and two threes to end the half, sending Truman to the locker room with a 42-31 edge. Overall, the Bulldogs hit 9-14 threes in the first half.
To open the second half, Scott nailed another three to put Truman up 45-31. But not long after McKnight picked up foul number three, and Ashland went on an 8-0 run and cut the lead to just six. When it all looked like it was going Ashland's way, Dylan Peeters came up with a steal and bolted down the court and threw down a one handed transition slam. With the score at 49-45, McKnight finally got on the board with a close hook shot to make it a six point game. In the middle of the half, Ashland hung hard and pulled within three at 54-51. But after that, the Bulldogs ran away with the game.
With the score at 56-53, the Bulldogs ripped off ten straight points. McKnight began the run with a layup and scored two more from the foul line while Miller and Strait nailed three pointers. From there Truman would lead by as many as 19 and finished the game up that same margin.
While Scott led with 19 points, Hazekamp led with eight rebounds and Scott dished out nine assists. The Bulldogs will be in the round of 16 against the winner of Michigan Tech and Southern Indiana Tuesday night.
