UMSL’s Isaiah Fuller makes a layup during Monday’s NCAA Division II Midwest Regional championship game against Hillsdale College in North Canton, OH. (Photo courtesy: UMSL Athletics)

Team	1	2	Total
UMSL	29	34	63
Hillsdale	35	38	73

By Cedric Williams
Senior Editor

The University of Missouri-St. Louis men’s basketball team’s magical run through the NCAA postseason came to an end, Monday night, when the Tritons were defeated in the Midwest Regional championship game, 73-63, by Hillsdale College.

UMSL, which came into the night having won 12 games in a row, led for most of the first half and were up 21-11 midway through. But Hillsdale went on a 17-4 run to take its first lead at 28-25 with six minutes left in the half.

The Tritons responded with a couple of baskets to re-take the lead with four minutes to go. But then UMSL missed its final seven shots of the half, as Hillsdale scored five straight baskets to take a 35-29 lead into the half.

The second half was all Hillsdale, which pushed its lead to as many as 18 points midway through the half, as UMSL continued to struggle to score by missing 11 of its first 15 shots of the second half.

The Tritons did rally a bit, and got as close as eight points on three different occasions, but the Chargers held on for the win, which earned them a trip to the NCAA Division II national quarterfinals.

The Elite 8, as it’s called, will be played in Evansville next week, with the D2 National Championship Game scheduled for Saturday, March 26.

UMSL finished its season with a record of 26-7, after winning the program’s first ever Great Lakes Valley Conference championship and becoming just the second UMSL team to advance to the D2 Sweet 16.

“Being a part of a team that has done stuff that we really haven’t done at UMSL, these seniors (Marquis Collins, Shane Wissink, Yaakema Rose Jr., Kellen King, Steve Webb, and Jose Grubbs) have really got a great legacy,” UMSL head coach Bob Sundvold said. “They established some things both on and off the court on (the UMSL) campus.”

Rose Jr., who was named to the Midwest Region All-Tournament Team, led the Tritons with 18 points and four assists. Webb scored 12 points and grabbed seven rebounds, while Wissink and Marty Jackson both added 11 points.

Missouri-St. Louis 63

##	Player	GS	MIN	FG	3PT	FT	ORB-DRB	REB	PF	A	TO	BLK	STL	PTS
04	Yaakema Rose	*	32	7-15	1-2	3-4	3-1	4	3	4	3	0	2	18
23	Steve Webb	*	30	6-11	0-0	0-0	1-6	7	4	1	3	0	1	12
02	Shane Wissink	*	39	3-8	2-4	3-4	1-3	4	1	2	2	0	2	11
21	Marty Jackson	*	25	5-10	1-2	0-0	0-4	4	2	1	1	1	0	11
35	Jose Grubbs	*	24	0-4	0-1	0-0	1-6	7	3	0	2	0	0	0
11	Isaiah Fuller		23	4-4	0-0	1-2	0-0	0	3	0	2	0	2	9
05	Trever Moore		16	0-3	0-3	2-2	1-0	1	1	1	0	0	2	2
01	Marquis Collins		8	0-2	0-1	0-0	0-1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
03	Lawrence Brazil III		1	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
12	Sam Richardson		1	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
13	Kellen King		1	0-1	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
15	Myles Cephas		0+	0-0	0-0	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	0	0	0	0
	TOTALS	–	200	25-58	4-13	9-12	7-22	29	18	9	13	1	9	63

Hillsdale 73

##	Player	GS	MIN	FG	3PT	FT	ORB-DRB	REB	PF	A	TO	BLK	STL	PTS
15	Patrick Cartier	*	34	9-12	1-1	4-4	0-3	3	3	2	5	0	1	23
02	Kyle Goessler	*	33	4-6	3-4	5-6	0-3	3	1	3	2	0	1	16
03	Jack Gohlke	*	30	5-10	2-7	3-3	0-2	2	1	3	1	0	0	15
24	Austen Yarian	*	27	1-6	1-2	0-1	2-6	8	1	4	2	1	0	3
05	Cole Nau	*	27	1-1	0-0	0-0	0-2	2	2	2	3	1	0	2
33	Joe Reuter		28	4-8	2-4	2-5	0-5	5	3	1	0	0	2	12
01	Tavon Brown		17	1-2	0-1	0-0	0-3	3	1	4	1	0	0	2
04	Charles Woodhams		2	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
30	Noah Applegate		2	0-1	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	2	0	0	0	1	0
TM	TEAM		0	0-0	0-0	0-0	1-3	4	0	0	1	0	0	0
	TOTALS	–	200	25-46	9-19	14-19	3-27	30	14	19	15	2	5	73