SPRINGFIELD, IL --- The Prairie Stars (8-13, 2-11) took a nine point lead into the half on the road at the University of Missouri – St. Louis (9-12, 4-9), but were unable to hang on as two late free throws from the Tritons sunk the Prairie Stars, 72-71. Freshman, Bahari Amaya led all scorers with 19 points, shooting 5-of-5 from three in his ninth start of the season.

The Prairie Stars jumped out to an early lead after Amaya hit his first three of the night, followed by back-to-back jumpers from Richard Freeman before Amaya connected from deep again. Amaya and Freeman combined to score the first 18 points of the game for the Prairie Stars over the first nine minutes and 48 seconds of the game. In that span, Amaya hit four three's as well as another jumper in the paint.

JJ Cravatta broke into the scoring with a jumper before leading scorer, Jamall Millison, added a jumper in front of a Zach Steinberg three, giving the Prairie Stars a 25-21 lead with 8:59 remaining in the half. Up 27-26, the Prairie Stars hit back-to-back threes from Steinberg and Vince Walker and ended the half hitting 5-of-9 from the field to take a nine point lead into the half.

In the second half, the Prairie Stars came out and hit three of their first four shots, concluding with Amaya's fifth three of the game to give UIS a 15-point advantage with 17 minutes to play.
At that point, UMSL began a 9-3 run, hitting four consecutive shots. UMSL cut the deficit to one on two occasions but weren't able to regain the lead until the 6:01 mark. Davi Austin tied the game a 65 with a layup but UMSL responded with a jumper to regain the lead with just over two minutes remaining.

Down two, Freeman hit two free throws to tie the game at 67 but a three point play from UMSL gave them the lead but Freeman stepped to the line and knocked down two more free throws to cut the deficit to one. With 11 seconds remaining, Cravatta was fouled and sank his two free throw attempts, and putting the Prairie Stars up one with 11 seconds to play. On the other end, Tre Ogles was fouled with two seconds remaining, and like Cravatta, made both free throws to put his team up with seconds remaining.

A last second three from Walker didn't fall and the Prairie Stars fell 72-71. UIS ended the game making only two shots from the field in the final nine minutes of the game. However, Cravatta and Freeman combined to make 11-of-13 from the free throw line, including 8-of-9 in the final stretch.

Freeman ended with 14 points, second only to Amaya's 19, while Millison tallied 12 on the day. Austin had just four points, but grabbed a game-high nine rebounds and added two assists and one steal. Cravatta ended with nine points on 3-of-4 from the field while Walker and Paxton Harmon each added a basket.

UIS will return home for four-straight games in their final home stand of the year as they take on Drury and Missouri S&T on Thursday and Saturday.