(ST. LOUIS, Mo., Feb. 4)—The McKendree University men's basketball team dropped an 86-82 decision Thursday evening in a Great Lakes Valley Conference contest at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.
 
The Bearcats battled back from a seven-point deficit with just under eight minutes to play to pull within a basket in the closing moments, but the host Tritons held on for their third straight victory. McKendree moves to 10-10 overall and is now 3-9 in GLVC play. The Bearcats will return to St. Louis Saturday afternoon for their final road game of the 2015-16 regular season at Maryville University. Tip-off is set for 3 p.m.
 
With the loss, McKendree men's basketball coach Harry Statham also remains in a tie with former University of Tennessee women's coach Pat Summitt for all-time wins in college basketball history – men's or women's – at the four-year level. Statham has 1,098 career victories during his 50 seasons at McKendree.
 
Four players scored at least 17 points in the contest for McKendree. Junior guard David Franklin (O'Fallon, IL/Althoff Catholic) led the quartet with 21 points. He also added team-high totals of eight rebounds and seven assists. Junior forward Darin Winkelman (Steeleville, IL/Steeleville) netted 16 of his 19 points in the first half for the Bearcats, while freshman guard Nate Michael (St. Joseph, IL/St. Joseph-Ogden) added 18 points, five rebounds and four assists. Junior guard Michael Jackson (O'Fallon, IL/O'Fallon) connected for 17 points for McKendree.
 
After trailing 47-46 at the half, McKendree grabbed its final lead of the night at 51-49 when Winkelman drilled his sixth three-point field goal of the night with 18:13 remaining. Missouri-St. Louis responded by scoring the next seven points, building a 56-51 advantage at the 15:25 mark. The Tritons eventually pushed the margin to seven points on three different occasions, the last coming at 73-66 with 7:41 to play before the Bearcats began to claw back.
 
McKendree put together a 9-3 run, capped by a lay-up from senior center David Newton (Rochelle, IL/Rochelle) off a pass from Franklin with 3:55 remaining, to pull within a point at 76-75. Missouri-St. Louis stretched the lead back to five points before a 24-foot jumper from Michael with 55.7 seconds on the clock trimmed the Bearcats' deficit to 82-80. The teams traded lay-ups before the Bearcats were forced to foul UMSL's Hunter Reine with 18 seconds to go. Reine missed the front end of a one-and-one as Michael grabbed the rebound, dribbled to midcourt and called timeout with 11.2 seconds to play.
 
The Bearcats were called for a five-second violation following the timeout, and had to foul once again. The Tritons' Tre Ogles sank two free throws with 9.8 to play to seal the win for UMSL.
 
The first half featured six ties and eight lead changes. A run of 12 consecutive points gave Missouri-St. Louis its largest lead of the game at 22-10 with 14:16 left in the opening period. McKendree answered by scoring 17 of the next 21 points to regain the lead at 27-26. Winkelman helped fuel the 17-4 run by hitting four straight three-point shots, including the final one at the 9:18 mark to push the Bearcats back in front.
 
UMSL surged back in front and held a three-point lead in the closing seconds before Franklin hit a pair of free throws to trim the Bearcats' deficit to just one point at the intermission.
 
Reine registered game-high totals of 23 points and 12 rebounds to show the way for UMSL (9-12, 3-9 GLVC). Ogles came off the bench to chip in 16 points, while Brandon Marquardt added 14 points, six rebounds and four assists. Joshua Webster had a solid all-around game for the Tritons with 12 points, seven rebounds, eight assists and four blocked shots.