LIBERTY, Mo. — Truman State's men's basketball team closed out its 2025-26 season on the road Saturday afternoon, falling to William Jewell 92-74 at the Mabee Center. The Bulldogs (12-16, 9-11 GLVC) showed plenty of fight throughout, particularly in the second half, but the Cardinals (19-9, 15-5 GLVC) proved too much to handle on their home floor in front of 987 fans.
Truman came out of the gates with purpose, and the game was tightly contested through the first ten minutes. Julian Brown opened the scoring with a three off a Jahki Parrinello assist, and the lead changed hands five times with the score tied on four occasions. The Bulldogs actually claimed a one-point advantage at 20-19 on a Kingery fast-break free throw with 10:23 remaining in the half before William Jewell's Justin Sutton answered with a driving layup to put the Cardinals up 21-20 — a lead they would not relinquish. From there, William Jewell began to extend its advantage through a combination of field goals and Truman turnovers. Adam Fuller hit a three to make it 26-20, McCafferty answered with a layup to trim it to 29-22, then Fuller connected again from deep off a Patterson assist to push it back to 29-20 — TSU never got closer than seven the rest of the half. Patterson's step-back three with just over four minutes left made it 39-23, and though Byers converted a fast-break layup to make it 39-25, Fuller answered immediately in the paint to push it to 41-25. The Bulldogs did close the half on a spirited note — Byers knocked down a three to cut it to 44-28, and after a Byrd steal, Byers buried another fast-break three off a Byrd assist to make it 44-31. But William Jewell pushed back to close the half, and Brown's pull-up three in the waning seconds made the final margin 50-34 at intermission.
The second half opened with one of Truman's best stretches of basketball all season. The Bulldogs scored on five of their first six possessions — Parrinello with a layup, Brown with back-to-back fast-break driving layups, and Byers converting a runout off a Kingery steal — to trim the deficit to nine at 51-42. William Jewell pushed it back out to 58-42 on a Sutton fast-break dunk, but Truman refused to let the game get away. Troy Anderson nailed a three off a Kingery assist to make it 58-45, and Brown converted a driving layup and subsequent free throw to keep Truman within 12 at 60-48 with 13:30 to go. Parrinello then drew four consecutive free throws over the next two minutes to move it to 60-51, and Kingery buried a second-chance three off an Anderson offensive rebound to pull it to 62-54 with 10:39 remaining. The Cardinals proved too deep and too efficient in the paint down the stretch, steadily extending the lead back to double digits and eventually 21 with the game in hand. Parrinello hit a fast-break three in the final seconds to account for the 92-74 final.
Jahki Parrinello led all Truman scorers with 19 points on 6-of-13 shooting, while Julian Brown added 19 of his own on 7-of-13 with three triples. Ja'Vion Byers contributed 18 points including a perfect 6-for-6 from the free throw line. For William Jewell, Isaac Patterson and Bradley Lightbourne each finished with 24 points, with Patterson shooting 5-of-8 from three. Emmanuel Byrd finished with three rebounds that saw him finish 2nd in the GLVC in rebounding with an average of 9.1 rebounds/game.
TEAM STATISTICS
| Category |
Truman State |
William Jewell |
| Final Score |
74 |
92 |
| FG (M-A) |
24-51 |
38-61 |
| FG% |
47.1% |
62.3% |
| 3PT (M-A) |
8-19 |
10-20 |
| 3PT% |
42.1% |
50.0% |
| FT (M-A) |
18-23 |
6-10 |
| FT% |
78.3% |
60.0% |
| Rebounds |
29 |
24 |
| Assists |
9 |
13 |
| Steals |
5 |
11 |
| Turnovers |
17 |
10 |
| Points in Paint |
28 |
54 |
| Fast Break Points |
15 |
21 |
| Bench Points |
9 |
25 |
| Second Chance Pts |
7 |
6 |
TRUMAN STATE STATISTICAL LEADERS
Scoring
Rebounds
Assists
Steals
The Bulldogs finished 9th in the GLVC with a 9-11 conference record in Head Coach
Mike Worley's first season at the helm of Bulldogs Basketball. Truman State will say farewell to seniors
Julian Brown,
Ja'Vion Byers,
Emmanuel Byrd, and
Brennan Lovette.
#BulldogNation
