Miners Dig Past Rivermen 77-72

Missouri-St. Louis Falls to UMR at Home

St. Louis, Mo. – The UMSL men’s basketball team came up a few shots short against Missouri-Rolla, losing 77-72 Saturday afternoon. The Rivermen led most of the game, but saw the Miners dig away at the lead in the second half and hold on for the five-point win.

UMSL controlled the game early in the first half, jumping out to an 8-2 lead in the opening minutes, but UMR came right back with a 9-0 run and led by three, 11-8 at the 15:36 mark. The Rivermen regained the lead a short time later on a three pointer by Justin Foust (St. Charles, Mo./St. Charles West), and pushed their lead out to as many as nine points with under eight minutes left in the half. The Miners again fought back, closing the gap to one point, and down two in the closing seconds got a three pointer from DeAndre Johnson for a 38-37 lead at halftime.

In the second half, UMSL came out on fire. UMR got the first point of the half on a free throw to lead 39-37, but the Rivermen responded by scoring 14 straight points to lead by 12 points, 51-39, with 16 minutes left in the game. During that run, Kevin Nordmann (Webster Groves, Mo./Webster Groves) scored eight points, including two three pointers, to spark the UMSL run. The Miner came right back once again, rallying with a 15-2 run of their own to reclaim the lead at 54-53 with 11 minutes remaining. The came went back and forth from there over the next few minutes before the Miners broke a 58-58 tie with a three pointer by Kerry Darting to take the lead for good.

UMR pushed their lead out to seven, 69-62, with under three minutes remaining, but UMSL would not cave in to the Miners. The Rivermen went on an 8-2 run over the next minute and a half, getting all eight points from senior Ronnie Banks (Birmingham, Ala./Phillips) during that stretch and trailed 71-72 with 46 seconds remaining. From there, UMR would hit six of their eight free throw attempts to hold off the UMSL rally and get the 77-72 win.

Missouri-St. Louis had four players in double figures, led by Ronnie Banks and Justin Foust with 15 points each. Kevin Nordmann added 14 points and Jonathan Griffin (St. Louis, Mo./Normandy) added 10. Banks added nine assists on the night as UMSL had 12 steals and committed just seven turnovers in the loss.

UMSL is now 4-5 on the season will be in action again on Friday, January 2, when the Rivermen will host SIU Edwardsville at 7:45 pm, and then host Lewis on Sunday, January 4 at 3:15 pm.