KIRKSVILLE, Mo. - Truman State Men's basketball is getting hot at the right time, currently on a four-game win streak with their latest victory being against GLVC No. 1 Indianapolis. Truman is now 11-11 overall and 8-6 in the GLVC which makes them tied for fourth in the league with Lewis. The Bulldogs look to extend their streak against Maryville and Missouri S&T at home in Pershing Arena.
The Maryville Saints are 10-10 overall and 6-8 in conference play. The Saints are 6-6 on the home, 3-3 away, and 1-1 in neutral site games. They are on a two-game losing streak, falling to Indianapolis 64-51 and Missouri S&T 82-65 at home. In their game against S&T, three Flyers had double-digit points, with Luke Williams leading with 15. Trey Redd had 13 points and Anthony Holden had 10. Tutu Chisholm had a team-high nine rebounds.
Maryville's leading scorer is Luke Williams who averages 11.6 points per game. Dewayne Vass is second and averages double-digits with 10.6. Vass leads the team in FG% at .589 in 151 attempts, and is fourth in the league in assists with 4.6 per game.
Tutu Chisholm is tops on the team in rebounding with 6.6, which places him ninth in the GLVC.
The Missouri S&T Miners are 12-9 overall and 6-8 in conference play. The Miners are on a two-game win streak and are 7-5 at home, 3-4 away, and 2-0 at neutral sites. Their last two wins are against Lewis (73-69), and at Maryville (82-65). Against Maryville, Kaden Froebe had a double-double, dropping 17 points with a game-high 11 rebounds. He also had four assists, one block, and two steals.
Ikenna Okeke is first on team and 15th in the GLVC in scoring, averaging 14.3 points per game. Okeke has scored exactly 300 points through 21 games. Julien Smith, Lovell Williams, and Froebe all average double-digit points as well. Smith is at 12.1, Lovell is at 13.5 in 18 games, and Froebe scores 11.0.
Andrew Young is one of the best rebounders in the league, grabbing 6.8 per game which makes him tied for seventh. Young is tied for second in blocks per game, swatting 1.7 shots per game. He had 36 blocks on the year.
Lovell Williams is tied with Truman's Xavier Hall in assists per game, with both averaging 5.2 a game. Hall has 115 to Williams' 93, with Hall playing four more games.
As for Truman State, they are now 7-2 at home, 3-7 away from Pershing Arena, and 1-2 in neutral site games. The Bulldogs have eight conference wins and four losses, which passes last season's win total of seven. Their 11 total wins are one away from the 2023 win total. Their victories in this win streak have come against McKendree and UMSL at home and Lewis and UINDY on the road.
Against Lewis, the Flyers took a massive 24-7 lead over the Bulldogs with 6:18 left in the first-half. Truman was able to cut the lead to six before the half, going into the break down 28-22.
With 12:25 left in the second-half, Lewis regained a sizable lead, going up 43-31. With 0:28 remaining in the game, Trey Shearer hit a clutch three that ended up being the game-winner. The shot gave Truman their first lead since the 16:05 mark in the first-half. The Bulldogs were able to hang on for the win after Lewis' Jamere Hill missed a layup at the buzzer.
Xavier Hall led all scoring with 18 on 5-6 shooting. He made his lone 3-pointer and all seven of his free throws. He also added four rebounds and two assists.
Trey Shearer was second in scoring for Truman, dropping 12 with six rebounds and three assists.
Freshman Matt Haefner's 10 points put him third in scoring on the team. Haefner had three rebounds and a game-high four blocks. The four blocks is a the most by a Truman player this season.
Kobi Williams had a team-high seven rebounds along with seven points.
Against UINDY, the Bulldogs dominated the first-half, going into the break up 52-32. The game was tight for the first four minutes, where the UINDY Greyhounds would hold their last lead of the game up 11-10 at the 16:28 mark. The Bulldogs quickly took the lead back and ran, going up 20. Truman State shot 19-31 (61.3%) from the field and a remarkable 12-17 (70.6%) from deep in the first-half.
UINDY outscored Truman 44-33 in the second-half, but it was not enough to complete the comeback. The Bulldogs cooled off shooting, going 8-20 (40%) from the field and 1-7 (14.3%) from three.
Truman State held UINDY to just 26-63 (41.3%) shooting and 5-22 (22.7%) from deep.
Trey Shearer and Kobi Williams both scored 20+ in the game, with Shearer dropping 22 and Williams having 20. Shearer also added two rebounds three assists, and two blocks to his totals. Williams had two boards, a block, and a steal as well.
Xavier Hall nearly was third in scoring with 19 on 7-13 shooting. Hall once again led in assists with five while also grabbing five rebounds and a team-high five assists.
Casen Lawrence scored an easy 13 points, going 3-4 from three and 4-4 from the free throw line.
Matt Haefner had eight points on 3-3 shooting and Landon Eiland had three with a team-high seven rebounds.
Head coach Jeff Horner reached 100 career wins as head coach of the Bulldogs. He also has 71 conference wins and is the fourth Truman coach to reach 100 total wins.
