UMSL Wins Another Thriller

Rivermen Beat Bellarmine 92-89 in Overtime

St. Louis, Mo. – The Missouri-St. Louis men’s basketball team continued their flare for the dramatic on Saturday afternoon, winning 92-89 in overtime over Bellarmine. Jonathan Griffin (St. Louis, Mo./Normandy) led UMSL with a game-high 28 points, including 14-of-16 from the free throw line, and had six rebounds and six assists in the win.

UMSL fell behind in the early going as Bellarmine grabbed a 12-4 lead in the first six minutes of the game. UMSL would climb back into the game and tie it at 20-20 on a three pointer by Chris Mroz (Chicago, Ill./St. Patrick). BU pushed the lead back to a nine-point advantage, but UMSL used an 8-2 run to tie it up again and the two teams went into halftime knotted at 39-39.

The second half started off in a back and forth battle before the Rivermen used a 10-3 run over a two and a half minute span to grab a seven-point lead at 55-48 with 14 minutes left in the game. Bellarmine would climb back into it and took a one-point lead at 59-58, but UMSL responded with a jumper by Aaron Jackson (St. Louis, Mo./Hazelwood Central) to retake the lead at 60-59. UMSL was up by five with seven minutes remaining, but Bellarmine went on an 8-0 run to grab the lead and extended it to a five-point advantage at 76-71 with 1:44 left. UMSL stayed close and rallied with a wild final 20-second of play that saw the two teams combine for three field goals in the last 20 seconds of regulation. Jonathan Griffin got a jumper to tie the game a 77-77. Bellarmine responded with a layup with 0:09 left, and UMSL got the ball inbounds quickly and up the floor, getting a layup from Derrell Minner (New Madrid, Mo./New Madrid County) with 0:03 remaining that tied the game at 79-79 and sent it to overtime.

In the extra period, Bellarmine got the first bucket, but UMSL responded with a jumper by Troy Slaten (St. Louis, Mo./DeSmet) and a three pointer by Joey Paul (Highland Park, Ill./Highland Park) to take an 84-81 lead. The Knights then reeled off six straight points to take an 87-84 lead before Jonathan Griffin scored the next six points for the Rivermen and gave UMSL a 90-87 lead with 0:17 left. After a Bellarmine basket, David Ward then hit a pair of free throws with 0:08 remaining that secured the 92-89 overtime win.

Jonathan Griffin led all scorers with a game-high 27 points, six rebounds and six assists. Sherome Cole (Sikeston, Mo./Sikeston) added 12 points off the bench and Derrell Minner scored 10 points, including the bucket to tie the game and send it to overtime.

The Rivermen improve to 10-4 on the season and 4-3 in the GLVC. UMSL will be on the road next week when they play at SIU Edwardsville on Thursday night and at Quincy on Saturday.