(LEBANON, Ill., Feb. 4)—The McKendree University men's basketball team earned its third consecutive home victory with a 79-69 win Saturday on Senior Day at the Harry M. Statham Sports Center over the University of Missouri-St. Louis.
 
The Bearcats honored their five seniors prior to Saturday's tip-off, and the guests of honor provided most of the spark in grabbing the Great Lakes Valley Conference victory. McKendree improves to 9-11 overall and is 3-9 in conference play. The Bearcats will now play their final six games of the 2016-17 regular season on the road, beginning with a Thursday match-up at Drury University in Springfield, Mo. Tip-off will be at 7:45 p.m.
 
Michael Jackson (O'Fallon, IL/O'Fallon) highlighted the list of stellar senior performances by dropping in a game-high 26 points while adding six rebounds. Darin Winkelman (Steeleville, IL/Steeleville) chipped in with 16 points and eight rebounds in his final home game in a McKendree uniform. David Franklin (O'Fallon, IL/Althoff Catholic) narrowly missed a double-double in his Senior Day effort with 12 points and a team-high nine rebounds. Franklin also collected a game-high three steals. Kyle Yates (Bethalto, IL/Civic Memorial) handed out a team-leading six assists during his final home appearance for the Bearcats.
 
Junior guard Justin Blanks (Barberton, OH/Norton) also reached double figures in the scoring column for McKendree with 14 points. Blanks also added four rebounds and four assists for McKendree, which defeated Missouri-St. Louis for the first time since joining the GLVC prior to the 2012-13 season.
 
After building a 33-24 lead at the intermission, McKendree stretched its advantage to double digits early in the second half. The Bearcats took their largest lead of the contest, 70-55, on a driving lay-up by Jackson with 4:16 remaining. Missouri-St. Louis responded by holding the Bearcats without a field go over the next three-plus minutes. The Tritons put together an 11-1 run to trim the deficit to 71-66 with 1:21 remaining.
 
McKendree turned the ball over on its next possession, but Franklin was able to jump in front of an errant pass by UMSL at the top of the key and sprinted ahead of the pack for a breakaway lay-up with 53.3 seconds on the clock to push the Bearcats' lead back to 73-66. Following a basket by the Tritons, Franklin was fouled with 36.7 seconds left. His two free throws enabled McKendree to regain a seven-point advantage.
 
Sophomore guard Nate Michael (St. Joseph, IL/St. Joseph-Ogden) and Blanks each added two free throws in the closing seconds to help the Bearcats pull away for the victory. As a team, the Bearcats made their final seven foul shots of the game, all of which came in the last two minutes.
 
UMSL held the lead in the early moments of action before Jackson hit a pair of three-pointer to fuel an 11-4 run that put McKendree in front at 17-8 with 12:29 left in the opening period. The Tritons battled back and closed the gap and eventually moved back in front at 24-23 before the Bearcats took control to end the half. McKendree reeled off the final 10 points in the final 3:18 of the period to take a 33-24 lead into the locker room. Jackson led all scorers with 14 points at the break.
 
Steven Davis pumped in a team-leading 19 points to pace Missouri-St. Louis (10-13, 4-9 GLVC). Elijah Watson posted 15 points, four rebounds and a game-high seven assists for the Tritons. Hunter Reine fell just short of a double-double with eight points and a team-best nine rebounds for USML.
 
The Bearcats' win on Saturday was their third Senior Day triumph in the last four years.