First Half Deficit Too Much for UMSL in 80-70 Loss

Quincy, Ill. – The University of Missouri-St. Louis men’s basketball team got in a hole early, and could not come back in the second half in against Quincy, falling 80-70 to the Hawks.

Quincy jumped out to a huge lead in the opening eight minutes of the game. The Hawks scored the first 11 points of the game, and opened up with a 20-2 run in the first eight minutes of the first half. UMSL would slowly get the offense going, but Quincy increased their lead to as many as 24 points at 41-17 with 3:41 left in the half. UMSL closed the first half with an 11-2 run, including a buzzer beater shot from Paul DeChellis to go into halftime trailing 43-28.

UMSL played from behind the whole second half, but fought back numerous times. UMSL used an 11-0 run early in the half, getting eight of those 11 points from David Ward, to close the gap to just eight points at 49-41 with 13 minutes remaining. The Rivermen would later get within seven points at 53-46 after a free throw by Ward, but could get no closer the rest of the way as the Hawks held on for the 80-70 win.

UMSL was led in scoring by Brett Ledbetter with 29 points, and David Ward had 18 points, hitting 7-of-7 from the field. Troy Slaten added 11 points in the loss, but made three, three-point field goals, giving him 70 on the season and sets a new UMSL single season record for most three pointers made in a season.

The Rivermen are now 9-17 on the season and 4-14 in the GLVC. The Rivermen will finish their season on Saturday at SIU Edwardsville.