EVANSVILLE, Ind.--The Truman State Men's Basketball team found itself in another nail biter on Wednesday night as they took on Flagler University in the Elite Eight. It was the final game of the quadruple-header day, and despite a monster game from Cade McKnight with a career high 34 points; the Bulldogs came up just short 70-69.

Dylan Peeters got Truman on the board with the first three points of the game--all coming from the foul line. McKnight's first bucket came at the 16:15 mark of the half as he drilled a three pointer to put Truman up 6-4. Later in the half with Truman down 10-7, McKnight scored 11 straight points to give the Bulldogs an 18-10 lead. Flagler rallied back with seven straight to make it a one point game, but Masen Miller drilled a three to end their run and put Truman up 21-17 with 8:48 to go in the half. From 7:40 to 4:34 in the first half, McKnight scored nine straight Truman points, putting the Bulldogs up 30-23. Ultimately Truman closed the half up 36-30, with McKnight scoring 25 points in the half.

Turner Scott nailed a three to open the scoring in the second half, and a layup from Peeters put Truman up double digits at 41-30 with 17:53 to go. But from that point forward, Flagler chipped away and with 11:39 to go the second took the lead away from the Bulldogs at 52-51. But the dramatic finish was only beginning. 

With 9:25 to go, Elijah Hazekamp put Truman back on top 57-56. The teams seesawed back and forth, but later on a three by McKnight and a layup from Hazekamp put Truman up 64-61 with 5:17 to go. With 2:28 left, Flagler hit a three to knot it up at 66. McKnight gave Truman a two point lead with 2:13 to go, but Flagler quickly answered with a layup at 2:01. Turner Scott drew a foul with 1:11 to go, and went 1-2 from the line to give Truman a 69-68 lead. With ten seconds remaining, Flagler hit two foul shots to make it 70-69. Truman had one final chance but a jumper from Scott would not go down, and a tip in my Hazekamp was too late as the Bulldogs fell just short. 

This was a tremendous season for the Bulldogs as they overcame challenges from a covid related halt in play, broke in three new starters, and had players and coaches in and out of the lineup to win a regional championship and make their deepest tournament run in two decades. The Bulldogs still managed a 13 game winning streak, swept Coach, Player and Freshman of the year honors and had three players named All-GLVC.