UMSL’s Troy Glover makes a late layup to lift the Tritons to a win over Illinois-Springfield, Thursday night at the Mark Twain Building. (Photo courtesy: UMSL Athletics)

NCAA Men’s Basketball	1	2	Final
Ill. Springfield (16-8, 9-5)	28	34	62
UMSL (9-13, 7-7)	31	33	64

Cedric Williams
Senior Editor

NORMANDY, MO — With the game on the line, Thursday night, in an important Great Lakes Valley Conference game at the Mark Twain Building, University of Missouri-St. Louis big man Troy Glover would not be denied.

First, the 6’10 sophomore from Wheaton, Ill., made two clutch free throws with 1:42 left to give UMSL the lead. Then after the University of Illinois-Springfield tied the game, Glover fought off two defenders and scored an off-balance layup to give the Tritons the lead for good, in what proved to be a 64-62 win over the Prairie Stars.

The victory snapped a three-game losing streak for the Tritons, who are battling to stay among the eight teams that qualify for the GLVC Championship Tournament in March. UMSL has been in the championship game the last two years — winning it in 2022 and falling to McKendree last season.

The Tritons came into Thursday night tied for seventh place in the league standings — tied with Rockhurst and McKendree. Rockhurst also won on Thursday, but McKendree lost its game. So now the Tritons are tied with the Hawks for the final two tournament spots if the tournament were to begin today.

UMSL is 9-13 on the season, with a 7-7 record in GLVC play. UIS is now 16-8 overall and 9-5 in the conference.

The Tritons led for the majority of Thursday’s contest, with their biggest lead of 11 points coming with 14:07 left in the game. From that point on though, UIS battled to close the gap and even took its own lead with six minutes to go.

UMSL re-took the lead down the stretch, but UIS tied it again at 60 with two minutes to go.

That’s when Glover took over.

First, he made a move on two defenders and drew a foul, which earned him a pair of free throws with 1:42 to go. Glover made both to give the Tritons the lead.

It was short-lived though, as UIS’s Jordan Rice made a jumper in the lane to tie the score at 60. UMSL missed a shot on its next possession and UIS got the rebound, but UMSL’s Matt Enright made a steal with 42 seconds left that gave the Tritons back the ball.

And UMSL knew exactly what to do with it. The Tritons gave it to Glover, who saw two defenders coming and made a move towards the basket, where he sank a short layup to give his club the lead.

UIS inbounded the ball quickly and tried to set up its final play, which turned out to be a three-point attempt for Rice that could have won the game. The shot clanked off the rim and was rebounded by Glover as time expired, lifting UMSL to a much needed win.

For the game, Glover led all scorers with 20 points and also posted nine rebounds, two steals, and four blocks. Enright had 10 points and two steals, while teammates Savon Wykle and Emanuel Prospere added 17 and 12 points, respectively.

UMSL shot 46 percent (24-for-52) from the field in the contest but was 4-of-12 from three and shot 63 percent at the foul line. It forced 12 Prairie Star turnovers and converted those into 17 points.

Defensively, the Tritons held UIS to 42 percent shooting (22-for-52), which included allowing just two of 15 makes on three-point attempts. The Prairie Stars are one of the top three-point shooting teams in the GLVC, but on this night, UMSL just wouldn’t allow it.

The Tritons will look to complete the week with wins when it hosts Quincy on Saturday. Tip off for that contest is scheduled for 3 p.m.

Illinois-Springfield 62

##	Player	GS	MIN	FG	3PT	FT	ORB-DRB	REB	PF	A	TO	BLK	STL	PTS
05	Hanna,Jacob	*	38	5-9	1-2	7-8	0-10	10	1	2	1	1	0	18
02	Rice,Jordan	*	37	6-14	1-5	0-0	0-1	1	0	4	4	0	1	13
15	Weber,Jack	*	21	4-10	0-1	5-6	2-3	5	2	1	0	0	0	13
31	Ross,Khalil	*	14	2-4	0-1	0-0	0-3	3	1	0	0	1	0	4
03	Kunnert,Max	*	37	0-4	0-4	1-2	0-2	2	3	1	2	0	1	1
32	Esker,Isaiah		19	5-6	0-0	3-4	3-1	4	3	0	1	0	0	13
20	Altman,Evan		17	0-3	0-1	0-0	1-6	7	2	0	0	0	1	0
24	Johnson,Jayden		11	0-2	0-1	0-0	0-0	0	1	0	2	0	1	0
00	Dutton,Britton		3	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	1	0	2	0	0	0
22	Bergstrom,Jason		3	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
TM	TEAM		0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Totals	–	200	22-52	2-15	16-20	6-26	32	15	8	12	2	4	62

UMSL 64

##	Player	GS	MIN	FG	3PT	FT	ORB-DRB	REB	PF	A	TO	BLK	STL	PTS
35	Glover II, Troy	*	34	8-15	0-0	4-7	3-6	9	2	1	2	4	2	20
20	Wykle, Savon	*	40	5-9	2-4	5-6	0-3	3	1	0	1	0	0	17
12	Prospere II, Emanuel	*	24	5-12	0-1	2-3	1-2	3	4	3	1	0	3	12
03	Enright, Matt	*	36	4-7	2-4	0-0	0-4	4	2	2	2	0	2	10
15	Quartlebaum, Mayson	*	35	1-5	0-1	1-3	1-7	8	1	1	0	0	2	3
21	Kabala, Terrell		11	1-2	0-1	0-0	0-0	0	1	0	2	0	1	2
05	O’Neal II, Kris		15	0-1	0-0	0-0	1-1	2	4	1	0	0	0	0
04	Bledsoe, Sam		5	0-1	0-1	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
TM	TEAM		0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-1	1	0	0	1	0	0	0
	Totals	–	200	24-52	4-12	12-19	6-24	30	15	8	9	4	10	64

UMSL TRITONS 2023-24 MEN’S BASKETBALL SCHEDULE

Date	Gametime	At	Opponent	Location
February 10, 2024 (Saturday)	3 p.m.	Home	Quincy	Mark Twain Building
February 15, 2024 (Thursday)	7:45 p.m.	Away	Drury	Springfield, Mo. / O’Reilly Family Events Center
February 17, 2024 (Saturday)	3 p.m.	Away	Southwest Baptist	Bolivar, Mo. / John Q. Hammons Court
February 24, 2024 (Saturday)	3 p.m.	Away	McKendree	Lebanon, Ill. / Harry Statham Court
February 29, 2024 (Thursday)	7:30 p.m.	Home	Indianapolis	Mark Twain Building
March 2, 2024 (Saturday)	3 p.m.	Home	Lewis	Mark Twain Building
March 7-10, 2024 (Thursday)	TBA	Neutral	GLVC Tournament	TBD