Foust, Griffin Lead UMSL to Overtime Win

Foust Scores Career High 21 as UMSL Beats Bellarmine 85-78 in OT

Louisville, Ky. – The Missouri-St. Louis men’s basketball team pulled off an overtime road win over Bellarmine Unviersity, winning 85-78 behind a career night from Justin Foust (St. Charles, Mo./St. Charles West). Foust scored a career best 21 points on the night, keeping the Rivermen in the game much of the night, and Jonathan Griffin (St. Louis, Mo./Normandy) scored seven points in the overtime period for UMSL.

UMSL got behind early in the first half, and had to play from behind. The Rivermen got down by ten points before making a run at the Knights. UMSL went on an 18-5 run over a six minutes stretch to take their first lead. Down by four points, Kevin Nordmann (Webster Groves, Mo./Webster Groves) hit a three pointer to make it a one-point game, and on the next possession Ronnie Banks (Birmingham, Ala./Phillips) hit another three pointer that gave the Rivermen a 30-28 lead with three minutes left in the half. The Knights then got give straight points to retake the lead, and led 33-32 at halftime.

The Rivermen continued to play from behind much of the second half, battling back to keep the game close. With ten minutes remaining, UMSL would make a run and grab a brief lead. Trailing by four points, UMSL got a layup by Jared Pratt (Elsberry, Mo./Elsberry) and then a three-pointer by Sherome Cole that gave the Rivermen a 54-53 lead. The Knights however came right back and grabbed the lead back. UMSL failed to give in, and trailing by four points with 3:25 left, the Rivermen made another charge. UMSL got a three-pointer from Justin Foust to pull the Rivermen within one point, and a fast break layup by Jared Pratt gave UMSL a 61-60 lead. After a Bellarmine free throw, Foust struck again, hitting a three pointer with just over a minute remaining for a 64-61 lead. UMSL held on to the slight lead, as a pair of free throws by Ronnie Banks gave UMSL a 69-66 lead with 7.5 seconds remaining. Bellarmine then hurried down and Bruce Johnson banked in a three pointer to tie the game at 69-69 and send it to overtime.

In the overtime, UMSL took the first lead before Bellarmine came right back to tie the game at 71-71. Kevin Nordmann then got fouled on a three-point attempt and hit all three free throws, and after a turnover by the Knights, UMSL got a layup from Jonathan Griffin for a 76-71 lead with three minutes left in overtime. After two more Bellarmine free throws, Justin Foust got a putback layup and was fouled, hitting the free throw for the three-point play and a 79-73 UMSL lead. After Bellarmine cut back into the lead and made it a 79-77 game with one minute remaining, Jonathan Griffin came through again, getting a layup bucket and was fouled, connecting on the free throw for an 82-77 game with 49 seconds remaining. Griffin would ice the game with two more free throws with 35 seconds left, and from there it was playing out the remaining time as UMSL would go on for the 85-78 overtime win.

UMSL was led by Justin Foust with a career high 21 points on the night. Jonathan Griffin added 16 points and pulled down a season best 12 rebounds on the night as well. Ronnie Banks had 15 points and seven assists and Kevin Nordmann had 12 points. The Rivermen defense played a big part in the win, forcing 25 turnovers with 16 steals on the night.

Missouri-St. Louis is now 3-3 on the season and 1-1 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference as head coach Chris Pilz records his first conference win with UMSL. The Rivermen will return home this week when they host second ranked Southern Indiana on Thursday night at 7:45 pm.