Missouri-St Louis 75, Parkside 68
­Playing short-handed on a Monday night, the Parkside men's basketball team couldn't overcome a big first half by the visiting Missouri-St. Louis Tritons in nonconference action at De Simone Arena. 
 
The Rangers, who fell to 5-6 overall, battled back from a 20-point deficit to trim the Tritons' lead to as little as five points with much help from the 3-point basket, where Parkside finished 17-of-38, their most makes since the 2017-18 season. UMSL improved to 8-2 overall this season and have now won three straight.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
UMSL shot nearly 70% in the first half, getting some nice looks down low and using an 18-3 run early on to pull out to an early double-digit lead. The Tritons slowly built on their lead in the first half to a 44-31 advantage at the break. UMSL outscored Parkside 24-4 in the paint in the first half, but the Rangers went 7-of-16 from deep, including redshirt-senior Cameron Myre going 4-of-6.
 
In the second half, UMSL quickly pushed the lead out to 20 points with 16:00 to play, but that didn't stop the Rangers from fighting back. They followed that 20-point deficit up with a 13-0 run and held UMSL scoreless for over 6:00-minutes of game action. After the Tritons pushed the lead back to 14 with 3:25 to play, back-to-back triples by Tray Croft and a layup by Rasheed Bello made it a 71-65 ball game, but Parkside couldn't get the stop they needed. A late 3-pointer by redshirt-freshman Vinson Sigmon Jr. made it a 5-point game with :20-seconds left, but UMSL iced it away at the free-throw line.
 
STATWORTHY
Croft, who was just named the GLIAC North Player of the Week on Monday, finished with 24 points and went 6-of-12 from deep with six assists. Sigmon Jr. added 14 points and hit four 3-pointers while Myre finished with a career-high 12 points with a career-high four 3-pointers.
 
UMSL finished 54.9% from the floor and 50% from deep while Parkside went 35.4% and 17-of-38 from downtown. UMSL went +10 in rebounding and +30 in points in the paint.
 
WHAT'S NEXT
Parkside will take a break until 2022, where they'll host Purdue Northwest on New Years Day at 3 p.m. following the women's game. For tickets for all Parkside men's basketball games, visit ParksideRangers.com/Tickets.