ST. LOUIS, Mo. - The University of Illinois Springfield men's basketball team could not over come a strong-shooting UMSL squad as the Tritons downed the Prairie Stars, 71-45, on Friday evening at the Mark Twain Building in both team's Great Lakes Valley Conference opener.

Junior Jamall Millison (Bolingbrook, Ill.) was the lone scorer in double figures with 10 points. Classmate Sammie Elem (Chicago) was second with seven points, while adding eight rebounds to his line.

UIS struggled from the floor, hitting a season low 25 percent on 14-for-55, including just five buckets in the second half. The hosts dominated long range shooting with 11 treys and shot at a 43 percent clip (25-for-57) from the floor.

UMSL raced out to 6-0 lead on back-to-back three-pointers, but the Prairie Stars had other ideas and went on a 13-4 run to lead 13-10 by 15:51 on the clock. The visitors ran their lead to as man as nine, 24-15 on a long ball from junior Davi Austin (Newark, N.J.) with 11:43 to play in the first.

A 14-4 run by the Tritons put the hosts back out in front where they remained for the rest of the game. UMSL held the visitors without a field goal for the final six minutes of the stanza as it took a 37-29 lead into half time.

The second half belonged to Missouri-St. Louis as the Prairie Stars only scored six points in the opening 10 minutes. UMSL pulled ahead by 28, its biggest lead of the game, on a three-pointer from Alex Majewski to secure the first GLVC win.

Aaareon Smith finished the game with 14 points and 11 rebounds, while Neil Branham also scored 14 points to lead UMSL. Tylor Wimbish wrapped up the double-figure scoring with 11 points.

The Prairie Stars return to GLVC action on Sunday against Maryville. The Saints posted a 79-64 win against McKendree to open conference play.