Joey Paul Hits Three-Pointer at Buzzer for Win

Rivermen Beat Northern Kentucky 67-64 on Last Second Shot

St. Louis, Mo. – UMSL’s Joey Paul (Highland Park, Ill./Highland Park) picked the perfect time to score his first points of the game, hitting a three-point field as the buzzer sounded to give the Rivermen a 67-64 win over Northern Kentucky.

UMSL trailed by four to start the second half, but slowly chipped away at the lead and grabbed a 36-35 advantage on a layup from Troy Slaten (St. Louis, Mo./Marquette). UMSL would push that lead out to four points when Northern Kentucky got back-to-back jumpers to tie the game at 44-44. The Norse took a brief one-point lead after a three pointer made it 47-46, but UMSL got a layup from Sherome Cole (Sikeston, Mo./Sikeston) to grab the lead back for the Rivermen. The game was knotted up again at 52-52 with five minutes remaining, and would be tied four more times in those closing minutes. Jonathan Griffin (St. Louis, Mo./Normandy) got a three-point play to turn a one-point deficit into a two-point advantage for UMSL at 62-60 with under two minutes remaining. NKU came right back and tied it again and the two teams exchanged points in the final minute to force a 64-64 with under 30 seconds remaining. UMSL had possession for one last shot, and after a couple of drive to the bucket and kick outs, Nathan Whittaker (Sullivan, Mo./Sullivan) drove down the lane and dished it out to the left wing to Joey Paul who hit an open three-pointer at the buzzer for the 67-64 win.

UMSL grabbed the early lead in the first half with an 8-4 advantage, but Northern Kentucky came right back and grabbed a 12-11 lead with 11:44 remaining in the half and pushed that out to a seven-point lead with just under six minutes left in the half and held on for a four-point lead at 30-26 at the break.

UMSL was led by Jonathan Griffin with 21 points and eight rebounds on the night and Nathan Whittaker scored 13 point, including 10-of-12 from the free throw line in a foul-plagued game. Both teams combined for 39 fouls in the game with a total of 54 free throws. Troy Slaten added ten points for the Rivermen in the win.

The Rivermen improve to 9-4 on the season and 3-3 in the GLVC. UMSL will be at home again on Saturday afternoon when they host Bellarmine at 3 pm.