Truman State Men's basketball plays NAIA opponent Grand View University from the Heart of America Athletic Conference on Monday, December 19th at 3 p.m. The Bulldogs won arguably their biggest game of the young season at Southwest Baptist University 73-63 on 12/10. Their win against the Bearcats snapped a six-game losing streak and a GLVC win.
Against Grand View: Truman State has a 4-2 record against the Vikings in a series that started in 1981. The two teams met five times in the 1980's, with Truman winning three of the five games played that decade. Truman and Grand View's most recent matchup was last season on 12/29/22, with the Bulldogs coming out on top 86-59.
The Vikings are led in scoring by Brady Sartorius, who averages 110.3 points per contest. Sartorius, from Mount Pleasant, Iowa, also leads the team in assists per game with 4.4. Dylan Miller is second in scoring for the Vikings, putting up 10.1 PPG in only 23.8 minutes per game.
Bulldog Tidbits:
Truman State Men's basketball defeated GLVC preseason No. 2 Southwest Baptist University 73-63.The Bulldogs went into the half up 37-27, shooting 13-25 from the field 6-13 from 3. Truman held SBU to only six made shots on 25 attempts. Elijah Hazekamp scored nine first-half points. SBU cut the Truman lead to six, 67-61, with 1:15 left in the game, but the comeback effort was not enough as Truman won by 10. Truman shot 50% from the field in the first half, going 10-20. SBU attempted eight more shots than Truman in the second half, but made only 12 shots and went 3-11 from 3. Nduka Ogwu scored a game-high 17 points, shooting 8-12 from the field. Ogwu recorded four rebounds, two blocks, and a steal in his best performance of the season. Elijah Hazekamp ended with 16 points, six rebounds, and a steal. Hunter Strait and Brandon Kracht both scored 11 each. Four other Bulldogs scored as well.
Hunter Strait etched his name into the Truman State record books as he passed Cory Myers in career games played as a Bulldog with 123 in a loss against Illinois Springfield. Strait had a historic week, becoming the 33rd Bulldog to score 1000 career points against Lewis and becoming the most tenured player of all time against UIS.
Elijah Hazekamp leads Truman in scoring, averaging 14.5 points per game along with 7.7 rebounds and 1.5 assists. He is 10th in scoring in the GLVC, 0.5 points behind Isaiah Fuller of UMSL. Hazekamp's 7.7 boards per game is good for 3rd in the conference, tied with Jack Weber from UIS
Xavier Hall averages 3.3 assists per game, which is 10th most among GLVC players.
Coach Jeff Horner is two wins shy of catching Chris Foster for fifth place on the all-time wins chart at Truman State. Horner is sitting at 80 wins in five seasons.
Up Next:
The Bulldogs take a Christmas break and are back in action next against Culver-Stockton on Saturday, December 31st, at 1 p.m. in Pershing Arena. Truman has a week off then play William Jewell, Rockhurst, and SBU.
