ST. LOUIS – Kobe Clark led the Maryville men's basketball team with 13 points and five assists but Missouri-St. Louis went on to post a 69-52 win over the Saints Tuesday evening.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
Late in the first half, Clark sank a 3-pointer to cut the UMSL lead down to 22-17. The Tritons scored eight of the next 10 points to build a 30-19 advantage. The Saints responded by closing the half on an 8-0 run and shut out UMSL for the final 3:08 of the half. Raynard Horry sank a jumper before Clark hit back-to-back buckets. Henry Sanchez scored just before the halftime buzzer to bring the Saints to 30-27.
 
Horry opened the second half with a jumper as Maryville cut the gap to just one at 30-29. UMSL opened up a bit of a cushion before Gabe Clemmons' wing jumper made it 43-36. The Tritons went on a 12-3 run to go ahead by double figures. Greg Ballard drained a 3-pointer to ignite a 7-0 burst. Lincoln Palbicki powered up for a layup, and Clark sank two free throws to pull the Saints to 58-48 with five minutes to play. However, UMSL scored five-in-a-row and the Saints never were able to trim the gap back down to single digits.
 
STATISTICAL LEADERS
Points: Kobe Clark - 13
Rebounds: Kobe Clark and Eric Hackett - 4
Assists: Kobe Clark - 5
3-Pointers: three players - 1
Steals: Kobe Clark - 3
Blocked Shots: none
 
RECORDS
Maryville: 1-7, 0-3 GLVC
Missouri-St. Louis: 6-4, 2-2 GLVC
 
WHAT'S NEXT?
The Saints host McKendree Thursday, Dec. 11, in a 6 p.m. contest that was rescheduled from two weeks ago due to winter weather in the St. Louis area.