Rivermen Cruise to 97-85 Win

Griffin Scores 29 Points in Win

St. Louis, Mo. – The Missouri-St. Louis men’s basketball team cruised to a 97-85 win over visiting Robert Morris College on Monday night. The Rivermen had ten different players score in the game while shooting 53.1% from the field as a team, their highest shooting night of the season.

Robert Morris College took the first lead of the game and was up by five points at 12-7 in the opening minutes. The Rivermen then turned up the defensive pressure and went on a 19-2 run over the next five minutes, getting nine of those points from Jonathan Griffin (St. Louis, Mo./Normandy), to take a 26-14 lead. UMSL would push that lead out to as many as 19 points and went into halftime leading 49-31.

The Eagles came out strong in the second half, and quietly chipped away at the UMSL lead, knocking it down to a six-point deficit with 12:26 left in the game. The Rivermen quickly regained control of the game, getting a three-point play from David Ward (Maryland Heights, Mo./DeSmet) to take a nine-point lead and followed on the next possession with a three pointer from Joey Paul (Highland Park, Ill./Highland Park) to lead by ten points. The Rivermen cruised from there, leading by as many as 17 points on their way to a 97-85 win.

UMSL was led by Jonathan Griffin with a game-high 29 points, six rebounds and five assists on the night. He hit 13-of-16 from the free throw line, marking the fourth straight game with double digit free throws made. Aaron Jackson (St. Louis, Mo./Hazelwood Central) added 14 points and Troy Slaten (St. Louis, Mo./Marquette) scored 12 points in the win.

The Rivermen improve to 11-6 on the season and will be home again this weekend when they host Rockhurst on Thursday night at 7:30 pm, and then host Drury on Saturday afternoon at 3:00 pm.