Whittaker Leads UMSL Second Half Charge

Freshman Scores 19 Points to Lead UMSL to 80-79 Win

St. Louis, Mo. – The Missouri-St. Louis men’s basketball team battled through a tough game on Saturday, defeating Blackburn 89-70 in a game that saw the Rivermen pull away in the final ten minutes of the game. Nathan Whittaker (Sullivan, Mo./Sullivan) provided the spark for UMSL, scoring a career-high 19 points and pulling down a career best nine rebounds in the win.

UMSL got the first bucket of the game on a rebound basket by Joey Paul (Highland Park, Ill./Highland Park), but Blackburn stayed close and led by as many as eight points seven minutes into the game. The Rivermen fought back into the game and took a brief three-point lead after a pair of free throws by David Ward (Maryland Heights, Mo./DeSmet), but the Beavers came right back and led by seven points at 28-21. UMSL would close the final four minutes of the half with a 6-0 run and went to the break trailing by one point at 31-30.

The Rivermen came out in the second half with more intensity, and after a bucket by Blackbrun, took the lead with five straight points for a one-point advantage. The game went back and forth for the next several minutes, with two ties and seven lead changes in the first six minutes of the second half before UMSL started to pull away. Nathan Whittaker hit a three pointer to give UMSL the lead for good at 49-47 with 14 minutes left in the game. Whittaker then hit another three pointer on UMSL’s next possession as the Rivermen went on to push their lead to ten points at 64-54 with ten minutes remaining. The Rivermen cruised from there on their way to the 89-70 win.

UMSL was led by Nathan Whittaker with a career-high 19 points on 8-of-10 shooting from the field and pulled down nine rebounds. Troy Slaten (St. Louis, Mo./Marquette) added 14 points and Jonathan Griffin (St. Louis, Mo./Normandy) and David Ward each scored 13 points in the win. Joey Paul was the fifth UMSL starter to hit double figures in the game, scoring 10 points, all in the first half.

UMSL is now 7-1 on the season, the best start to the season since the 1966-67 team also went 7-1 in their first eight games. The Rivermen will be in action again on Tuesday, December 20, when they play at Harris Stowe at 7pm before taking a break for the Holidays.