Skip To Main Content
Skip To Main Content

Truman State University Athletics

Mells15_UIndy2
Tim Barcus - University Photographer
64
Quincy QU 13-16
84
Winner Truman TSU 20-9
Quincy QU
13-16
64
Final
84
Truman TSU
20-9
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Quincy QU 37 27 64
Truman TSU 34 50 84

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | | Tyler Madsen, Athletics Communications

Men's BB Recap: Truman 84, Quincy 64

KIRKSVILLE - - Reed Mells scored all 16 of his points in the second half, as the Truman men's basketball team overcame a three-point halftime deficit with a 50-point outburst in the final 20 minutes of an 84-64 Great Lakes Valley Conference tournament-opening win against Quincy (Ill.) on Sunday afternoon in Pershing Arena.
 
The Bulldogs shot a red-hot 61% in the second half, as Truman used a pair of runs that totaled 28-0 to pick up its second straight 20-win season. The Bulldogs reached the 20-win mark for just the seventh time in school history and paired with last year's 20-win campaign as the first back-to-back 20 win seasons since 1946-47 and 1947-48.
 
Meeting for the second time less than 70 hours, the long-time rivals came out of the gate with QU (13-16) landing the first punches. The Hawks stormed out to a 16-5 lead through the first five minutes of play, and held a double-figure lead all the way to 36-25 with 2:46 to play in the opening half. From there, though, Truman (20-9) began to find its pace, as the purple and white closed the half on a 9-1 run – punctuated by an Isaac Gardner three-ball with just four seconds remaining – to head into the break down just three, 37-34.
 
Mells wasted no time getting on the scoreboard out of the intermission, as an old-fashioned three-point play just nine seconds into the half knotted the score at 37-all. QU would re-build a 48-42 edge, but then Truman hit the gas – scoring 18 straight points during a six-minute, 24-second stretch to take a 12 point lead at 60-48. That nearly matched a 19-0 run the Bulldogs put on the Hawks in the early minutes of the first half in Pepsi Arena on the QU campus on Thursday night.
 
After a Ja'mil Jones lay-up cut Truman's lead to single-digits with 6:21 to play at 66-58, the Bulldogs rattled off a 12-0 burst – capped by a Mells jumper – to push the Truman lead to 78-58 with just 2:30 left on the clock. Truman ran the game out from there, picking up the 84-64 victory against Quincy.
 
Seth Jackson – the GLVC's leading scorer – paced all players with 24 points on 10-of-16 shooting, despite battling foul trouble and playing just 22 minutes in the game. He was joined in double-figures by Mells' 16, and a 10-point, six-rebound day for sophomore Connor Erickson. Junior Andrew Vander Zwaag scored eight points off the bench, while sophomore Cory Myers finished with eight points and a game-high six assists.
 
Truman shot 59% for the game (33-of-56) but hit just five three-pointers, tying the season-low in that department. The Bulldogs also hit their magic number of 80, as the purple and white are now 15-0 this season when they reach the 80-point mark in a game.
 
The Bulldogs forced Quincy into 19 turnovers, 11 in the second half, and dominated the final 20 minutes by nearly making as many field goals (20) as QU attempted (21).
 
With the victory, the Bulldogs will advance to the neutral-site Family Arena for GLVC quarterfinal action on Thursday, March 5, where the squad will face UW-Parkside. The Rangers – the No. 3 seed in the tournament – finished the regular season 25-2 overall (17-1 GLVC East) and received a first-round bye. The two teams met in Kirksville on Jan. 2, where UWP picked up a 77-69 victory. The game time will be released by the league office late Sunday night.
 
Additional Notes:
  • The Bulldogs will make a trip to a conference tournament's neutral-site venue for the first time since 2006-07, when that year's squad advanced to the semifinals of the MIAA tournament in Kansas City's Municipal Auditorium.
  • Seth Jackson surpassed the 600-point total for this season in scoring, and his new mark of 601 is just 16 points away from tying Johnnie Wesley's top mark of 617, set during the 1981-82 season.
  • Head coach Chris Foster becomes just the second coach in program history to reach the 20-win mark in his first season (Boyd King, 1946-47).
  • The Bulldogs won for just the second time this season when they trailed at the half.
  • Truman out-rebounded the Hawks, 30-23, and dominated the paint by a 48-24 scoring margin.
--Want to stay up-to-date with what's going on with the Bulldogs?--
Support Truman Athletics || Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram || Subscribe to your favorite team's newsletters/releases || Receive text alerts of scores/big news
Print Friendly Version