The McKendree Bearcats men's basketball team ended its 2020-21 regular-season with an upset win over the University of Missouri-St. Louis Tritons 74-71 on Thursday night. The win catapulted the Bearcats to fifth place in the chase for the GLVC conference tournament with just one weekend of play left.

How it Happened
The first half saw the visiting Tritons jump out to an early lead and would not relinquish that lead for the first 20 minutes. Though UMSL led for all of the first half, the Bearcats would not allow the visitors to run away with the game. The Bearcats cut the lead to five heading into the halftime break.

The Bearcats would eventually see themselves trailing by seven with just over seven minutes to play in the regular season finale but they would not go away easily. Over the next three minutes of play, McKendree would score on five straight possessions to tie the score with 1:15 to play in regulation.

The Tritons would retake the lead with a pair of free throws with just over a minute to play. Following a UMSL timeout, the Bearcats' Oliver Stephen (Edwardsville, IL/Edwardsville) drew a foul while attempting a three which sent the senior to the line to try and give McKendree its first lead of the game. Stephen was good on all three from the charity strip and the Bearcats took a one-point lead. Alijah Thomas (Des Moines, IA/Hoover) would then seal the win for McKendree with a steal and a perfect two-for-two trip to the free throw line.

Inside the Box Score
-   Bryson Bultman (Nashville, IL/Nashville) led the Bearcats in scoring with 26-points on 11-of-15 shooting. He also grabbed four rebound and dished out four assists.

-  Oliver Stephen (Edwardsville, IL/Edwardsville) shot 50 percent from behind the three-point line going four-for-eight. To go along with his 19 points, he led the way grabbing six rebounds.

-  As a team, McKendree blocked five shots which was the second most in a game this season.

-  In the second half, the Bearcats shot 64 percent from the field and 50 percent from behind the arc. The 64 percent was the team's second best shooting performance in a half this year.

-  The free-throw line was huge for McKendree in the win. The Bearcats missed just two free attempts in 17 tries.

Up Next
The Bearcats ended the 2020-21 season with a 10-9 overall and conference record. Now the team will wait to see if it will qualify for the GLVC postseason tournament for the first time in school history. After the win last night the Bearcats moved into a tie for fifth place in the standings and will wait to see how games this weekend play out.