UMSL Beats 4th-Ranked Southern Indiana

Griffin Scores 30 Points to Lead Rivermen to Victory

St. Louis, Mo. – After dropping their first game of the season on Thursday night, the UMSL men’s basketball team responded in a big way, beating fourth-ranked Southern Indiana 87-83 on Saturday. Jonathan Griffin (St. Louis, Mo./Normandy) led the Rivermen with a game high 30 points on the night, helping the Rivermen had USI its first loss of the season.

USI got the early lead in the opening minutes of the game and controlled the lead most of the first half. UMSL led just twice in the opening half, the last lead a 23-21 advantage after a jumper by Aaron Jackson (St. Louis, Mo./Hazelwood Central) with eight minutes left. Southern Indiana could not pull away as the Rivermen stayed close and another jumper by Aaron Jackson tied the game at 37-37 going into halftime. The first half was a back and forth battle the whole way, with a total of seven tied and four lead changes.

UMSL got the first bucket of the second half to take a 39-37 lead but USI got two straight baskets to reclaim the lead. With the score tied at 41-41, UMSL got a layup from Troy Slaten (St. Louis, Mo./Marquette) to give the Rivermen a 43-41 lead and UMSL would not give up that lead the rest of the game. USI would tie the score two more times, but UMSL held on both times. The last tie game at 56-56 with 10:13 remaining, but a free throw by David Ward (Maryland Heights, Mo./DeSmet) followed by a three pointer from Nathan Whittaker (Sullivan, Mo./Sullivan) game UMSl a 60-56 advantage.

After a jumper by the Screaming Eagles made it 60-58, the Rivermen would go on a 10-0 run over the next two and a half minutes, getting seven points from Jonathan Griffin during that run and Troy Slaten capped it off with a three pointer for a 70-58 UMSL lead. USI would fight back and got within two points, but with UMSL leading by four, 81-77, with 35 seconds left, Chris Mroz (Chicago, Ill./St. Patrick) stole the ball and went down for a fast break layup to put UMSL back up by six. Mroz then hit two clinching free throws with 0:01 on the clock for the 87-83 victory.

UMSL was led by Jonathan Griffin who scored a game high 30 points and had five rebounds and four assists. Troy Slaten had 17 points and Nathan Whittaker added 10 points, eight rebounds and five assists in the win.

The Rivermen improve to 5-1 on the season and 1-1 in the GLVC while fourth-ranked Southern Indiana falls to 7-1 on the season and 1-1 in the GLVC.