EDWARDSVILLE, ILL. -- Southern Illinois University Edwardsville men's basketball notched its eighth win in a row defeating Missouri-St. Louis 85-72 Thursday night at the Vadalabene Center.
         The Cougars own the Great Lakes Valley Conference longest winning streak and have won 10 of their last 11 games.
         SIUE improves to 12-3 overall and 6-2 in league play. The Rivermen fall to 10-5 overall and 4-4 in the GLVC.
         For the second consecutive game Mike Hardiek scored 20 or more points as he led the Cougars with 20. Hardiek went 8-for-13 from the field to lead five Cougars in double figures.
         Hardiek's jumper put the Cougars ahead 23-15 with 9:18 to go in the first half. The Rivermen, who shot 66.7 percent (6-9) from three-point land in the first half, then went on a 22-7 run over the next 8:48 to gain a 37-30 advantage with :30 left in the first half. Hardiek would nail a three-pointer at the buzzer to trim the UMSL lead to four at the break.
         Hardiek's three-pointer gave the Cougars momentum that carried over into the second half as they continued on a 11-2 run to lead 41-39 with 16:26 left in the game. A J.B. Jones jumper gave the Cougars a 11-point lead at 65-54 with 9:30 to go.
         The Rivenman cut that lead to 69-65 on a Joey Paul free throw with 5:49 left. The Cougars then made their final run of the game outscoring UMSL 16-7 to end the contest.
         Ty Johnson scored 19 points on 6-of-12 shooting, going 3 for 5 from behind the three-point line and 4 for 4 from the charity stripe. J.B. Jones finished with 14 points, six assists, six steals, and four rebounds.
         Ryan Belcher netted 12 points adding five steals. Doug Taylor chipped in 10 points on 3 of 3 shooting. Justin Ward added eight points and four rebounds.
         SIUE forced 28 turnovers scoring 37 points off of their takeaways.
         After shooting 40 percent (14-35) in the first half the Cougars netted 55.9 percent (19-34) of their shots in the second half. UMSL shot 44.7 percent (21-47) from the field and netted 22-26 (84.6 percent) from the free throw line.
         Jonathan Griffin led UMSL with 22 points going 11 for 11 from the free throw line. David Ward grabbed 12 rebounds adding four points as the Riverman outrebounded the Cougars 41-24.
         SIUE faces Missouri-Rolla on Saturday at 3 p.m. at the Vadalabene Center.
        
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