UMSL’s Donovan Vickers gets the Tritons’ offense set during Saturday’s GLVC Tournament semifinal game against Indianapolis. (Photo: Cedric Williams)

Team	1	2	Total
#5 UMSL (21-9)	38	44	82
#1 UIndy (26-4)	32	24	56

Cedric Williams
Senior Editor

ST. CHARLES, MO — The University of Missouri-St. Louis men’s basketball team earned its second straight trip — and third in the last four years — to the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament championship game, Saturday afternoon, when it defeated No. 7-ranked and top-seeded Indianapolis, 82-56, in a semifinal game played at Lindenwood University’s Hyland Arena.

The Tritons (21-9), who came into the tournament as the No. 5 seed, and advanced to the semifinals by defeating No. 4 Rockhurst on Friday, delivered one of its hottest shooting performances of the season to cruise past UIndy.

UMSL connected on 55 percent (33-of-60) of its shots, including 12-of-25 from three-point range. The Tritons also held UIndy to 37.3 percent shooting (19-of-51), with just nine made three-pointers.

That total especially stands out because the Greyhounds made five of their first seven three-point attempts, which meant they made just four of their final 12, and two of those makes came in the final minute of the game after the outcome had already been determined.

Grad student senior Bowen Sandquist led the way for UMSL. He scored a career-high 30 points, which included eight made three-pointers. That was the most three-point makes by an UMSL player ever in a postseason game.

Teammate Isaiah Fuller also had a big day. He scored 20 points, pulled down eight rebounds, dished out six assists, and had four steals.

The Tritons took control of the game midway through the first half, when they went on a 10-0 run — capped by a pair of crowd-stirring jumpers by Sandquist — that put UMSL up 31-22. The score at halftime was 38-32.

UIndy scored two of the first three baskets of the second half to make the score 40-36, but that was as close as the Greyhounds would get, as the Tritons just stormed past them the rest of the way.

First, UMSL went on an 11-0 run to go ahead 51-36. Then after a UIndy three-pointer ended that spurt, the Tritons answered with a 17-2, which included three Sandquist three-pointers and a thundering slam dunk by Drew Cisse that put UMSL ahead 68-41 with just over eight minutes left in the game.

The desperate UIndy team started firing up three-pointers to try to get back into the game, but couldn’t make enough to get close enough to put the outcome in doubt. In fact, UMSL led by as many as 33 points before pulling its starters out with 3:17 left.

UIndy (24-5) will still likely earn an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament. Some believe the Greyhounds will even be selected as one of the host school’s when the tournament field is announced on Monday.

The Tritons have other business to attend to first. They’ll take on nearby rival McKendree University, which defeated Southwest Baptist University in Saturday’s other semifinal game, in the GLVC Tournament Championship Game on Sunday.

The two teams split their previous meetings this season, with each team winning on the other’s home floor. UMSL beat McKendree at McKendree on January 12, and the Bearcats returned the favor in St. Louis, when they defeated the Tritons in the regular season finale on February 25.

Sunday’s championship game at Hyland Arena will tip-off at 1 p.m., with the winner claiming the GLVC championship and an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament.

UMSL 82

##	Player	GS	MIN	FG	3PT	FT	ORB-DRB	REB	PF	A	TO	BLK	STL	PTS
22	Sandquist, Bowen	*	30	10-14	8-11	2-3	0-4	4	2	1	0	0	1	30
11	Fuller, Isaiah	*	36	9-11	0-1	2-2	3-4	7	1	6	2	0	4	20
23	Cisse, Drew	*	11	3-3	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	3	0	1	3	0	6
32	Nwagbaraocha, Victor	*	28	2-9	1-2	0-0	0-7	7	1	2	0	1	3	5
03	Enright, Matt	*	19	1-2	1-2	0-0	0-2	2	1	0	0	0	0	3
10	Harris, Janeir		15	5-8	1-2	0-1	2-0	2	0	3	0	0	0	11
04	Vickers, Donovan		21	3-6	1-4	0-0	1-3	4	2	3	0	0	0	7
15	Quartlebaum, Mayson		22	0-4	0-2	0-0	0-2	2	3	1	0	0	1	0
05	Moore, Trever		10	0-2	0-0	0-0	0-1	1	2	1	1	0	0	0
01	Robinson Jr.,Patrick		3	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0
13	Bledsoe, Sam		3	0-1	0-1	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
20	Weller, Brennan		2	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
TM	TEAM		0	0-0	0-0	0-0	2-1	3	0	0	0	0	0	0
	TOTALS	–	200	33-60	12-25	4-6	8-24	32	15	18	4	4	9	82

UIndy 56

##	Player	GS	MIN	FG	3PT	FT	ORB-DRB	REB	PF	A	TO	BLK	STL	PTS
02	Josiah Tynes	*	26	3-6	2-3	7-10	0-1	1	2	1	1	0	0	15
03	Jesse Bingham	*	33	5-13	2-4	0-0	1-1	2	0	1	1	3	0	12
23	Jakobie Robinson	*	27	2-5	1-2	0-0	0-0	0	1	2	1	0	0	5
15	Bruno Williams	*	18	2-2	0-0	0-0	1-0	1	1	3	2	0	1	4
01	Kendrick Tchoua	*	17	2-6	0-0	0-0	4-5	9	3	1	2	0	1	4
22	Jarvis Walker		25	2-8	1-1	2-3	2-4	6	1	1	2	1	0	7
12	David Ejah		9	2-5	2-4	0-0	0-1	1	1	0	1	0	0	6
33	Sean Craig		12	1-4	1-4	0-0	1-2	3	0	1	0	0	0	3
21	Julian Steinfeld		14	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-4	4	0	0	0	2	0	0
04	Ben Nicoson		12	0-1	0-1	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	3	0	1	0
05	Aaron Etherington		7	0-1	0-0	0-0	1-1	2	1	0	0	0	0	0
TM	TEAM		0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Totals	–	200	19-51	9-19	9-13	10-21	31	10	10	13	6	3	56