Second-half surge not enough as Griffins fall to UMSL

St. Louis, Mo - Fontbonne University men's basketball had a rough first-half, ultimately losing 77-59 to the Division II University of Missouri-St. Louis (UMSL) Tritons. After halftime, the Griffins broke out an 11-5 run and battled hard but UMSL claimed a 35-34 second-half scoring advantage.

After trailing 9-10 to open the game, Fontbonne went on a skid, scoring just two points to UMSL's 16 and trailed 42-25 at halftime. The Griffins cut UMSL's lead to 10 points with 2:24 remaining but late fouls allowed the Tritons to increase their lead on a 9-1 run to win their home-opener. Hurting Fontbonne the most was their 37.5% team free-throw percentage with nine buckets on 24 attempts.

Junior forward Ben Kissing led Fontbonne in scoring, both from the outside and down low. Kissing tallied 19 points and 5 rebounds. Kissing was 3-for-3 behind the arc but struggled at the free-throw line missing all three chances. He was 8-11 in field goals on the night. The only other Griffin scoring in double-digits was freshman Bryce Zimmerman, recording 10 points and four rebounds. Richard Dorhauer dished out six assists as the Griffins are now 1-1 on the seaso.

This weekend Fontbonne travels to Bloomington, Ill. to play in Illinois Wesleyan's Titan Tip-Off Classic. The Griffins take on Rose-Hulman to open play Saturday at 5:30 p.m. and will then face their host or Wilmington College on Sunday. Live stats can be found on our schedule page.