KIRKSVILLE, Mo. - The Truman State Bulldogs return to the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament to take on the #4 seed William Jewell in St. Charles, Missouri.
The Bulldogs go into the tournament 15-13 overall and 12-8 in the GLVC after finishing last season with a record of 12-16 and 7-13 in conference play. Truman finished 10 spots higher than they were projected, as they were picked to finish last in the GLVC preseason coaches' poll.
Truman State ended their regular season with with records of 10-3 at home, 4-8 on the road, and 1-2 in neutral site games. Their losses at home were to Findlay in a non-conference game, Indianapolis, and Illinois Springfield. Both Indianapolis and Illinois Springfield made the GLVC Tournament, with UINDY being the #1 seed and UIS being #6.
The William Jewell Cardinals went 18-10 overall with a 12-8 GLVC record which is the same as Truman State. The Cardinals also went 10-3 at home, with their three losses coming against Missouri Western, Lewis, and Upper Iowa.
The Truman State Bulldogs are 3-2 in their last five game, with wins against Missouri S&T (92-84), Quincy (94-55), and Southwest Baptist (61-40). Their losses were to Illinois Springfield (74-65) and Drury (90-87) in the season finale.
The Bulldogs defeated Southwest Baptist 61-40 in their second to last game. With the help of 10 points from Landon Eiland and seven from Brennan Lovette in the first-half, the Bulldogs went into the break up 29-18. Truman shot 10-22 from the field and 5-15 from three in the first 20 minutes.
Trey Shearer had a phenomenal second-half, scoring 15 points. The Bulldogs made 13 of their 29 shots from the field and won by 21 despite shooting 3-13 from behind the arc in the second-half.
Shearer led all scoring with 19 on 7-13 shooting with four boards, two assists, and three steals.
Lovette scored 14 with eight rebounds, two assists, one block, and two steals.
Eiland was the final double-digit scorer, dropping 12 with six rebounds, one assist, one block, and a steal.
Kobi Williams nearly had a double-double, scoring nine points with nine rebounds. The nine boards were the most by either team.
Xavier Hall had a team-high four assists with an additional four rebounds and a steal.
Truman State shot 23-52 (44.2%) as a team and held SBU to to 15-56 (26.8%).
In Truman's final regular season game at Drury, a 90-87 loss, the first-half was filled with scoring on both sides, but the Drury Panthers went into the break up 49-35.
The Bulldogs slowly chipped away in the final twenty minutes, cutting the lead to two with 12:36 left. Drury went up seven at the 10:36 mark, and Truman took a 75-74 lead with 7:14 remaining. With the game tied 87-87 with 0:31 left, Drury took a two-point lead after a layup and made a free throw to win the game 90-87.
Five Bulldogs scored double-digit points. Xavier Hall had a team-high 18 points with Trey Shearer and Kobi Williams both scored 16. Casen Lawrence had 14 points and Brennan Lovette had 10.
Williams and Landon Eiland had four rebounds which led the team.
Xavier Hall had a a team-high four assists and two steals.
William Jewell is also 3-2 in their last five, with their wins coming against Rockhurst (82-50), Maryville (67-61), and Missouri S&T (95-71). Their losses were to Indianapolis (70-68) and Lewis (84-70).
In Williams Jewell's last game, a 95-71 win against Missouri S&T, four Cardinals scored double-digit points. The Cardinals dominated the game, outscoring the S&T Miners 48-35 in the first-half and 47-36 in the second.
Kobe McKinley scored a game-high 25 points on 11-14 shooting. He also had eight rebounds and two steals.
Jordan Jermain, William Jewell's leading scorer, had 19 points on an efficient 6-7 shooting. Jordan went 4-4 from three and grabbed seven rebounds.
Isaac Patterson recorded a double-double, scoring 16 points along with a career-high 15 rebounds. Patterson shot 6-10 from the field and 2-2 from behind the arc.
Trey Shannon was the final 10+ point scorer, recording 12 with three assists and a steal.
The Bulldogs and Cardinals played once this season, with William Jewell taking a 74-72 win on January 27th in Liberty, Missouri.
The Bulldogs finished the first-half up 39-31 with the help of 11 points from Trey Shearer. Truman shot 16-29 from the field and 4-8 from three. William Jewell was 12-27 from the field and 5-13 on three-pointers.
The second-half favored the Cardinals, outscoring Truman 43-33. The Bulldogs struggled shooting, going 11-28 (39.3%) and 2-8 (25.0%) from three. With 0:31 left in the game, Truman was down 72-71, and Kobi Williams hit a free throw to tie the game up. William Jewell's Isaac Patterson made a layup with 0:05 left in the game that ended up being the winner. Kobi Williams took a last-second three for the win, but it missed.
Trey Shearer was Truman's top scorer, having 18 on 8-14 shooting. He also had three rebounds and two assists.
Brennan Lovette had 13 points on 5-8 shooting, while leading the team with seven rebounds.
Kobi William and Landon Eiland both had nine points.
Xavier Hall had a game-high eight assists.
For William Jewell, Isaac Patterson led all scorers with 25 on 8-11 shooting. Trey Shannon and Kobe McKinley both had 13 points, and Jordan Jermain had 11. Both McKinley and Jermain grabbed eight rebounds which led the game.
Freshman guard Kobi Williams was named Freshman of the Year and All-Freshman, sophomore guard Xavier Hall was named second-team All-GLVC and All-Defensive, junior guard Trey Shearer was named second-team All-GLVC, and sophomore guard Casen Lawrence was Truman's selection for the James R. Spalding Sportsmanship Award.
Kobi Williams had a great freshman season, averaging 12.2 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 1.9 assists per game. In conference games, Williams led all freshman in GLVC contests with 12.3 points per game and 246 total points. He had a season-high 29 points at Quincy on 1/11/24.
Sophomore Xavier Hall excelled all around this year, placing second in assists in the GLVC with 4.8 and was third in scoring for Truman with 11.7. He was tops in assist/turner ratio in the conference at 2.6. Hall had a career-high 27 points versus Maryville on 2/15/24.
Trey Shearer had his best season as a Bulldog in 2023-24, scoring 13.0 points per game which was 5.2 more than last season's average. His 13.0 points was good for 19th in the GLVC and best on the team. Shearer's best game was against Upper Iowa on 12/2/23, where he dropped 28. He had a career-high seven rebounds and nine assists against McKendree on 2/1/24.
Casen Lawrence received Truman's nomination for the James R. Spalding Sportsmanship Award, showing great behavior on and off the court.
Truman State head coach won the GLVC Coach of the Year award after posting a record of 15-13 overall and 12-8 in conference play. The Bulldogs were picked to finish last in the GLVC preseason poll, and placed fourth at the conclusion of the season. This is Horner's second Coach of the Year honor, last winning in 2021.
