The University of Illinois Springfield men's basketball team had a strong finish on Saturday afternoon at TRAC which pushed the team to an 81-70 victory over Maryville.
 
The Saints led 66-61 with 6:31 left, but UIS outscored them by a 20-4 margin the rest of the way. Defensively, UIS held Maryville to just one-of-12 shooting down the stretch, and forced three turnovers. Offensively, a three-pointer by Peyton Allen put the Prairie Stars ahead for good around the five-minute mark, and UIS built a comfortable 77-67 lead with 44 seconds remaining. Daniel Soetan's dunk with 13 seconds left put the icing on the game.
 
UIS was still in the game late in large part because of the outside shooting by Vince Walker. Walker tied a career-high with seven three-pointers on just 10 attempts. He had three in the first half, which helped the Prairie Stars lead 37-34 after 20 minutes. Walker then hit four three-pointers in a four-minute span early in the second half to put UIS up 52-40. Maryville went on a run and eventually led by five before UIS's closing spurt.
 
UIS shot 48.3 percent from the field for the game, including 51.7 percent in the second half. The Prairie Stars made 12 three-pointers and shot 42.9 percent from beyond the arc. Maryville finished the game shooting 40.3 percent from the field and 21.1 percent from three-point range. UIS won the turnover battle by a 16-8 mark, while Maryville had a 43-31 rebounding advantage.
 
Walker's 21 points was a team-high, followed by Aundrae Williams with 15. Williams scored 13 of his points in the second half, and finished the game with team-highs of three assists and four steals. Allen recorded 15 points and also had three assists. Gilwan Nelson had 13 points, and Daniel Soetan was in double-figures with 12. Collin Stallworth led the team with seven rebounds, one more than Soetan. Both of those players blocked three shots in the game.
 
UIS swept the season series over Maryville, and is now 10-5 overall and 3-2 in GLVC play. The Prairie Stars are back in action on Thursday with a home game against Missouri S&T.