KIRKSVILLE, Mo. - Truman State Men's basketball (9-11, 4-7 GLVC) hosts Missouri-St. Louis (17-3, 9-3 GLVC) on Saturday, January 28th, at 3 p.m. in Pershing Arena.
Against UMSL:
The Tritons of Missouri-St. Louis go into the matchup against the Bulldogs ranked No. 17 and No. 19 in the two DII basketball rankings. UMSL is 17-3 on the season, with nine wins and three losses in GLVC play. They are a perfect 10-0 at home and are on a three-game winning streak. The Triton's three losses have all come to GLVC opponents, losing at Rockhurst (88-81), at UINDY (77-70), and at Lewis (82-64). UMSL has ranked wins against No. 20 Walsh (70-53) and No. 24 West Texas A&M (83-81 OT). They won their last game in a contest at William Jewell (62-56). Isaiah Fuller led UMSL in points with 21. The Tritons did not have another double-digit scorer, but seven other players scored points. UMSL shot 39.3% from the field and went 3-20 from three (15.0%). William Jewell had a poor shooting performance as well, shooting 40.0% from the field and 4-19 from three (21.1%)
Fuller leads UMSL in points per game with 15.2. He also averages 3.5 rebounds and 2.9 assists a game. He scored a season and team-high 31 points against Drury on 12/1/22. Fuller also recorded five steals against Drury on the same date which is also a season and team-high.
Bowen Sandquist and Victor Nwagbaraocha are the Tritons' two other double-digit scorers. Sandquist averages 11.7 points per game and Nwagbaraocha scores 10.2.
Bulldog Tidbits:
Truman State Men's basketball fell to Maryville 71-68 in an overtime thriller on Thursday, January 26th at home.
Maryville led Truman by only two at the half, but the Bulldogs fell behind early in the second half, down 40-28 with 16:06 left in the game. Truman rallied and took a 53-52 lead against the Saints of Maryville with 4:12 left of a Dylan Peeters layup.
Down 60-58 with 0:15 left in the game, Xavier Hall made a game-tying layup with 0:05 left to take the game into overtime. In overtime, Brandon Kracht hit a 3-pointer with 0:23 remaining to make it a 69-68 Maryville lead. Maryville's Jaeden Smith hit two free throws to give the Saints a three-point lead, and Trey Shearer missed a game-tying three with 0:09 left in overtime.
Brandon Kracht scored a season-high 17 points in the loss, sinking five 3-pointers.
Hunter Strait scored 13 along with four rebounds and three assists.
Dylan Peeters recorded a double-double, scoring 12 points with 13 rebounds.
Elijah Hazekamp added 11 points of his own, and Xavier Hall dished out seven assists with seven rebounds.
The Bulldogs travel to Indianapolis, Ind. and Lebanon, Ill. to take on UINDY and McKendree next. They play UINDY on Thursday, February 2nd, at 7:30 p.m. (ET) and McKendree on Saturday, February 4th, at 3 p.m.
