Rivermen Fall to 10th-Ranked Pumas

Griffin Scores 20 points in Loss

Rensselaer, Ind. – The Missouri-St. Louis men’s basketball team took a quick lead during the first five minutes of the game before 10th-ranked Saint Joseph's College took control of the game and beat the Rivermen 107-85 on Thursday night.

UMSL jumped out to a quick lead as Troy Slaten (St. Louis, Mo./Marquette) made a quick three-point field goal followed by a jumper by Nathan Whittaker (Sullivan, Mo./Sullivan) to take a 5-0 lead in the first minute. The Rivermen were able to hold the lead until the 14:42 mark as SJC tied the game at 10-10. SJC went on a quick 19-2 run and led by as many as 20 with 1:47 left in the half. UMSL went on a 8-0 run in the final two minutes of the half to cut the lead to 12 with 26 seconds left but went into halftime trailing 48-34. SJC maintained control in the second half and pushed the lead out to 27 points with 5:01 remaining in the game as they secured the 107-85 win.

The Rivermen were led by Jonathan Giffin (St. Louis, Mo./Normandy)with 20 points and 10 rebounds. Troy Slaten added 16 points while David Ward (Maryland Heights, Mo./DeSmet) added 13 points and 7 rebounds.

The UMSL men's basketball team is now 12-8 on the season and 5-7 in the GLVC. The Rivermen will be in action again on Saturday at the University of Indianapolis at 3:30 pm ET.