UMSL Falls to Cougars

Late Run by SIUE Beats Rivermen

Edwardsville, Ill. – The University of Missouri-St. Louis men's basketball team lost at SIU Edwardsville on Thursday night, falling 85-72 in a game that featured eight ties and six lead changes before the Cougars pulled away late in the game for the win.

The first half went back and forth, with a total of five ties and five lead changes in the opening 20 minutes of play. SIUE would take the first advantage, breaking an 8-8 tie with six straight points and pushed their lead out to a eight-point advantage at 23-15 with 8:39 left in the half. The Rivermen would repsond with an 11-3 run over the next two and half minutes as Sherome Cole (Sikeston, Mo./Sikeston) hit three, three-point field goals during that run as UMSL tied the game at 26-26 with 6:15 left. With the score still tied at 30-30, the Rivermen would close out the last 2:37 of the half with a 7-3 run to take a 37-33 advantage going into halftime.

SIUE came out and got the first four points of the second half to tie the game at 37-37 and a jumper by David Ward (Maryland Heights, Mo./DeSmet) kept the game knotted at 41-41 with 16:13 left. With UMSL trailing by one point at 47-46, the Cougars went on an 8-2 run to take a seven-point lead and pushed that out to an 11-point advantage with 9:30 remaining in the game. UMSL would fight back and closed the gap to within four points at 71-67 after a pair of free throws by Jonathan Griffin (St. Louis, Mo./Normandy), but that was as close as the Rivermen would get as SIUE used a big run late to hold on for the 85-72 win.

UMSL was led by Jonathan Griffin with 22 points, including 11-for-11 from the free throw line, and pulled down seven rebounds and had five assists. Joey Paul (Highland Park, Ill./Highland Park) scored 10 points for the Rivermen and David Ward pulled down 12 rebounds.