Bellarmine Beats UMSL with Big Second Half

Cold Shooting by UMSL Leads to 98-72 Loss

St. Louis, Mo. – The University of Missouri-St. Louis men’s basketball team shot itself out of the game on Saturday, falling to Bellarmine 89-72 in a conference matchup. The Rivermen shot 33.3% (21-of-63) in the game, while allowing Bellarmine to shoot 53.6% and scored 55 points in the second half as the Knights opened it up late for the win.

The first half was a back and forth battle early, as there were four tiestwo lead changes in the opening nine minutes of play. With the game tied at 12-12, UMSL took the lead with seven straight points, and outscored the Knights 15-5 over a four-minute span to take a ten-point lead. Derrell Minner (New Madrid, Mo./New Madrid Central) started the run by scoring five straight points for UMSL, and a three pointer by Tim Geurin (St. Louis, Mo./Parkway West) gave the Rivermen a 27-17 lead. UMSL held a nine-point lead at 33-24 with just over two minutes left in the half, but Bellarmine closed out the half with ten straight points and took a 34-33 lead going into halftime.

The Knights opened up with a three pointer to start the second half and never trailed the rest of the game. Bellarmine quickly pushed their lead out to nine points at 47-38 with 15 minutes left before UMSL started to chip away at that lead. UMSL scored four straight points, and a bucket by David Ward (Maryland Heights, Mo./DeSmet) made it a five-point game at 47-42. With UMSL trailing again by seven points at 56-49, the Rivermen went on an 8-3 run. Joey Paul (Highland Park, Ill./Highland Park) got fouled on a three-point attempt and hit all three free throws, and Jonathan Griffin (St. Louis, Mo./Normandy) followed with a three-point field goal to start the run. After a basket and a free throw by Bellarmine, Griffin hit a pair of three throws and cut the Knights’ lead to just two points at 59-57 with 8:14 remaining, but that would as close as UMSL would get the rest of the game. Bellarmine used a 14-2 run over the next four minutes and pushed their lead out to 12 points and would hold on for the 89-72 win.

Jonathan Griffin led UMSL with 23 points and seven rebounds on the night. Joey Paul and Aaron Green (St. Louis, Mo./Riverview Gardens) scored 12 points each and Derrell Minner came off the bench to score ten points and pulled down eight rebounds. The Rivermen committed a season-low five turnovers on the night, but hit just 21-of-63 (.333) from the field and was outrebounded 46-34.

UMSL is now 6-13 on the season and falls to 3-10 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference. The Rivermen will be on the road next weekend to play at Indianapolis on Thursday, February 3, and at Saint Joseph’s on Saturday, February 5.