Box Score

The UW-Parkside men's basketball team made a strong second half push but was unable to get over the hump before falling to the Missouri-St. Louis, 79-71. The Rangers dropped to 7-4 overall and 0-3 in the GLVC while the Tritons moved to 4-0 in conference play and 9-3 overall.

Things got off to a bad start for Parkside as the team's leading scorer Jordan Mach stole the first pass of the game and took it to the other end of the floor. He was fouled going to the rim, went down awkwardly, and unable to return.

Both teams were hot offensively in the first ten minutes shooting well over 50%. A 10-2 run by the Tritons pushed the lead to 30-21, a margin that held until halftime with UMSL holding a 42-33 advantage.

The Tritons stretched the lead to 12 early in the second half but the Rangers were not about to go away. They scored seven straight points on a tip-in by Colt Grandstaff, a dunk by Steve Jaskulske, and a three-pointer by Jeremy Saffold.

UMSL got it back to 10 but again before Parkside answered with seven straight points. Grandstaff's lay-up made it 50-47 with 11:40 left.

The deficit hung it that area before a spurt by the Tritons pushed it back to double digits. But a 9-4 run by the Rangers got it back to five with 3:43 to go.

This time the Rangers could get no closer as UMSL knocked down their final six free throws and secured the win.

Saffold and Leneal Harris led the way with 14 points a piece while Grandstaff had 11. The Rangers shot 49.1% from the floor while UMSL shot 46.4%. The difference was the three-point line where the Tritons were 12-for-21 (57.1%) while the Rangers were just 5-for-17 (29.4%).

Parkside will look to put Thursday's result behind them as they look forward to Saturday's game against Maryville. The Rangers and Saints will tip-off at 3:15 p.m. Saturday afternoon. As always the game can be heard on 1400 AM WRJN and gatewaysportsweb.org.