The University of Illinois Springfield men's basketball team fell on Thursday night to Missouri-St. Louis at TRAC in Springfield, Ill. The Prairie Stars dropped the contest by a 76-71 score.
 
UIS spent most of the evening chasing Missouri-St. Louis on the scoreboard. The Tritons jumped out to an early 16-6 lead, and the Prairie Stars didn't pull even until late in the first halftime. A 4-0 run in the final 90 seconds though helped Missouri-St. Louis lead 35-34 at the break.
 
The Tritons carried that momentum into the second half, as they increased their lead to 10 at 49-39 less than six minutes into the half. UIS fought back for most of the period, and tied the game at 58 with 5:54 remaining. That was as close as it would get though, as the Tritons quickly answered with a three-point play 15 seconds later.
 
UIS was still in the game late, as Peyton Allen got the team within one with 1:22 remaining. Missouri-St. Louis scored on its next possession though and then hit four free throws late to close out the victory.
 
Missouri-St. Louis shot 49.1 percent from the field for the game, and made 17 free throws. UIS shot 42.9 percent for the game, and connected on 10 free throws. Missouri-St. Louis also had 14 more rebounds in the game. The Prairie Stars made two more three-pointers, and turned it over five fewer times.
 
UIS was led offensively by Allen as he had 16 points in the game. Bahari Amaya added 15 points, including three three-pointers, and Gilwan Nelson had 12. Daniel Soetan gave the team a big spark off the bench, and he finished with a team-high +/- of seven. He scored seven points, and recorded a team-high eight rebounds, five assists, and three steals.
 
UIS falls to 9-5 on the season and 2-2 in GLVC action. The Prairie Stars return to TRAC on Saturday for a 3 p.m. game versus Maryville.