Missouri-St. Louis boxscore in PDF

Despite setting a school record for free throw shooting percentage, the Maryville men's basketball team dropped an 86-79 decision to a hot-shooting University of Missouri-St. Louis squad. The Saints hit all 17 of their free throw attempts but the Tritons shot 53.8 percent from the field to win the city battle. The previous Maryville record for free throw shooting was a 17-of-18 (.944) performance at Quincy Feb. 22, 2014.
 
The Saints found themselves down 34-21 but reeled off a 12-3 run to close the first half. Derek Deters hit a 3-pointer, and Trae Pemberton added two free throws. Max Mischkulnig nailed two at the stripe before UMSL hit a trey. Forrester Sims scored on a layup, and another Deters 3-pointer pulled the Saints to 37-33 at halftime.
 
The Saints were still down 41-37 two minutes after intermission before the Tritons scored seven in a row to build a double-digit lead. Jeff Leeson and Sims answered with back-to-back jumpers, and later, Mischkulnig's corner 3-pointer trimmed the deficit to 52-46 with 13:23 to play. UMSL responded with a 7-0 run to push the edge to 13. Maryville was down 81-69 and made one late push. Pemberton hit a 3-pointer, and Josh Montague scored on a layup to pull the Saints to 81-74 with 41 seconds left to play. However, the Tritons hit enough free throws to keep the Saints at bay.
 
Sims made 9-of-14 from the field and finished with a career-high 23 points to go along with five rebounds and four assists. Pemberton added 20 points and hit all seven of his free throws. Deters also recorded a career high with 15 points. Evan Booker led the Saints with seven rebounds. Aareon Smith topped UMSL (13-4 overall, 5-2 GLVC) with 19 points and 12 rebounds.
 
The Saints fall to 9-7 overall, 4-3 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference. Maryville is back in action Thursday when it hosts Drury in a 7:30 p.m. contest.