UMSL head coach Bob Sundvold talks with his team during Friday’s GLVC Tournament quarterfinal game against Rockhurst. (Photo: Cedric Williams)

Team	1	2	Total
#5 UMSL (20-9)	43	49	92
#4 Rockhurst (16-13)	30	28	58

Cedric Williams
Senior Editor

ST. CHARLES, MO — After suffering losses in both its regular season matchups against Rockhurst, the University of Missouri-St. Louis men’s basketball team fell down to fifth place in the Great Lakes Valley Conference standings.

That meant Rockhurst would be the fourth seed in the GLVC Tournament and UMSL would be the fifth seed, setting up a third and final showdown in the quarterfinals of the conference tournament.

This time though, the Tritons played like a team that began its season with a 12-0 record and was at one time ranked the No. 4 team in the country.

UMSL dominated Rockhurst from start to finish and cruised to a 92-58 victory, Thursday afternoon at Lindenwood University’s Hyland Arena.

“I was very pleased with how we played today,” UMSL head coach Bob Sundvold said. “I thought we executed our offense really well. We made shots, and we really played well defensively.”

In the previous two matchups, Rockhurst scored more than 80 points and shot 50 percent or better both times. But on Thursday, the Tritons held the Hawks to their second-lowest scoring output of the season, which was also the first time Rockhurst was held below 60 points since before Thanksgiving.

“Our defense is our anchor,” Sundvold said. “We have to play well on defense. We hadn’t really done that in our other games against Rockhurst. But today we really got after them and didn’t let them get going like I’m sure they wanted to.”

Offensively, four Tritons scored in double figures, led by seniors Isaiah Fuller and Victor Nwagbaraocha, who each finished with 16 points.

Fellow senior Bowen Sundquist added 15 points, including four three-pointers, which made him UMSL’s all-time single-season leader for three-pointers made with 90. Sophomore Donovan Vickers came off the bench to score 11 points.

The Tritons, who led for all but 21 seconds, took control of the game midway through the first half following a 16-5 run that gave UMSL a 32-18 lead.

Rockhurst ended that run with a three-point basket, but UMSL answered with an 10-2 run, which included a monster slam dunk by big man Drew Cisse, that put the Tritons up 41-23.

Then, after the Hawks cut the lead to 43-30 at halftime, UMSL began the second half with a 10-0 run to go up 53-30. From that point on, Rockhurst never got closer than 19 points, with UMSL pushing its lead to 81-51 on a layup by Fuller with just over five minutes left in the game.

The victory lifted UMSL’s record to 20-9 — the program’s second straight 20-win season and fourth in the last five years. The Tritons will also advance to the GLVC Tournament semifinals on Saturday, when they will play top-seeded Indianapolis, with the winner earning a berth in the GLVC Championship Game on Sunday.

UMSL and UIndy have played twice this season, with each team winning on its home floor. The Greyhounds won 77-70 in Indianapolis on January 14, with the Tritons winning the rematch, 64-57, last week in St. Louis.

Saturday’s matchup at Hyland Arena will tip-off at noon, with the other semifinal contest — McKendree vs. Southwest Baptist — beginning at 2:15 p.m.

Rockhurst finished its season with a 16-13 record.

UMSL 92

##	Player	GS	MIN	FG	3PT	FT	ORB-DRB	REB	PF	A	TO	BLK	STL	PTS
11	Fuller, Isaiah	*	29	5-8	0-0	6-6	0-3	3	1	3	2	0	0	16
32	Nwagbaraocha, Victor	*	24	4-8	2-3	6-8	1-7	8	4	0	1	1	2	16
22	Sandquist, Bowen	*	23	4-8	4-8	3-4	0-2	2	1	0	1	0	0	15
03	Enright, Matt	*	21	1-3	1-2	4-4	0-1	1	0	0	1	0	0	7
23	Cisse, Drew	*	24	3-6	0-0	0-1	3-9	12	1	3	2	2	2	6
04	Vickers, Donovan		22	2-5	1-3	6-6	0-4	4	2	5	1	0	1	11
05	Moore, Trever		14	2-3	2-3	2-2	0-1	1	3	2	0	0	0	8
10	Harris, Janeir		18	2-5	0-1	3-4	0-1	1	3	0	3	0	2	7
15	Quartlebaum, Mayson		16	1-2	0-1	2-4	3-4	7	2	2	0	1	0	4
01	Robinson Jr., Patrick		3	1-2	0-0	0-0	1-0	1	0	0	0	0	0	2
13	Bledsoe, Sam		3	0-1	0-1	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
20	Weller, Brennan		3	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
TM	TEAM		0	0-0	0-0	0-0	1-1	2	0	0	0	0	0	0
	TOTALS	–	200	25-51	10-22	32-39	9-33	42	17	15	11	4	7	92

Rockhurst 58

##	Player	GS	MIN	FG	3PT	FT	ORB-DRB	REB	PF	A	TO	BLK	STL	PTS
20	Jihad Thornton	*	19	5-8	3-6	2-2	0-1	1	3	0	2	0	2	15
30	Timaris Brown	*	21	1-6	1-3	4-6	1-4	5	0	1	1	1	0	7
33	Rich Byhre	*	33	1-8	1-4	2-2	1-2	3	0	0	1	1	0	5
05	Miles White	*	19	1-5	0-3	1-2	0-3	3	3	0	0	0	1	3
50	Nick Arensberg	*	19	0-3	0-1	0-0	0-1	1	4	2	2	0	1	0
04	Jake Auer		24	3-9	2-8	0-0	1-4	5	3	0	1	0	2	8
02	Davit Kakushadze		23	4-8	0-2	0-0	0-2	2	1	3	3	1	0	8
00	Nico Felici		14	3-6	2-4	0-0	1-0	1	5	1	0	0	0	8
12	Charlie Hoehne		5	0-2	0-1	2-3	0-1	1	2	0	0	0	0	2
42	Connor Renard		4	1-1	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	1	0	2
01	Aidan Clarey		8	0-1	0-1	0-0	0-0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
03	Davit Abuladze		3	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	1	0	1	0	0	0
10	Makye Loggins		3	0-1	0-0	0-0	0-1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
23	Tyler DeGroote		3	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0
11	Rron Thaci		2	0-0	0-0	0-0	1-0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0
TM	TEAM		0	0-0	0-0	0-0	3-1	4	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Totals	–	200	19-58	9-33	11-15	8-20	28	24	7	12	4	6	58

GLVC Tournament Semifinals — Saturday, March 4, 2023 — Hyland Arena — St. Charles, MO

• 12:00 pm #5 UMSL vs. #1 Indianapolis
• 2:15 pm #7 Southwest Baptist vs. #6 McKendree