February 28, 2009

Rally Comes Up Short For Men's Hoops in Season Finale

BOX SCORE

ROLLA, MO. – The University of Missouri-St. Louis men’s basketball team rallied from a 17-point second half deficit, but couldn’t pull out the win as the Tritons suffered a 73-66 loss at Missouri S&T in its season finale Saturday night in Great Lakes Valley Conference action.

The Miners scored seven straight points to open the second half and build on a 10-point halftime advantage to take its largest lead of the game at 43-26 with 16:34 to play.

Freshman Beaumont Beasley would then hit a three-pointer to pull the Tritons within 47-39 mid-way through the second half before Missouri S&T extended the lead to 54-39 with 9:35 to play. From there, UMSL went on a 25-10 run to knot the game at 64-64 with 1:50 to play on a steal and lay-up by senior Jason Black.

Beasley tied the game again at 66-66 following another Black steal, but from there, the Miners would score seven unanswered points to garner the win.

Beasley scored a team-high 19 points in the loss for UMSL, while seniors Tim Green and Nathan Whittaker finished with 12 and 11 points, respectively.

Black dished out eight assists to finish with 140 on the year, breaking the school’s single season mark of 139, set by Bob Bone in 1974-75. He also recorded nine points and two steals.

UMSL ends the season at 14-13, including 6-11 in the GLVC, marking the first time since 2005-06 year that the Tritons have recorded a winning season. Missouri S&T ends the year at 9-17 and 4-14 in the league.

The Miners used a 13-2 run in the final six minutes of the first half to take a 36-26 lead into the intermission.

UMSL finished the game shooting 47.5 percent, while the Miners shot 44 percent and held a 38-32 rebounding advantage. Whittaker pulled down nine boards for the Tritons.

UMSL outscored the Miners, 25-18, in points off turnovers and 18-2 in fastbreak points.