Bulldogs start slow, fall to Pitt State

Coming off a three-game losing streak by an average of five points in each game, Truman State (5-13, 3-8) was ready to kick the streak and bounce back, sophomore Isaac Gardner said. 

"We were looking to carry over the momentum from the last three games and try to get a win tonight," Gardner said. "Everyone was hungry for a win."

But just like the last few games, Truman couldn't get hot early in Wednesday night's 73-56 loss to MIAA opponent Pittsburg State University (11-7, 7-4). Truman's defense was able to fend off Pitt State to keep the game level. Heading into the break, offensive struggles plagued both teams as they combined for 21 turnovers, 35 missed shots and no single player scoring more than seven points during the first 20 minutes.  Freshman Seth Jackson and senior Tom Norton led the way for the Bulldogs on the offensive end with six points each. The Gorillas' offense was propelled by the guard play of junior Courtney Ingram, who went 3-9 for seven points, and Pitt State's two forwards senior Andra Bailey and junior JaVon McGee who each had four points and a combined 13 rebounds. 

"We knew that they're a good team and have good guards and a good big man," Gardner said. "We knew that if we could keep their guards out of the paint and force them to shoot contested shots, along with their big man off the blocks and make them work for shots, that they would have a hard time shooting. And then we have to come down on offense and get a good shot every time."

That strategy seemed to work as neither team could get any real momentum on the offensive end, going into the half down 28-25.

The ‘Dogs showed more of the same struggles on the offensive end, while PSU was able to pick it up, shooting 65 percent scoring during the second half and 12 points during the first three minutes. 

"I thought the start of the second half was critical," head coach Matt Woodley said. "We went into halftime in a three-point ball game. Defensively we didn't respond and they were able to get shots in the paint. We were trying to make them into a jump shooting team."

The three starting guards for PSU finished with 30 points while their team shot 46 percent from the field. The Bulldogs shot 38 percent from the field and were out rebounded 46 to 23. However, both teams finished the game with 18 turnovers. 

On Jan. 21 Truman hosted Missouri Southern State University at Pershing Arena. It was the first meeting between the two teams since Nov. 30, when the Lions rolled to an 89-43 victory. The storyline was different this time around. 

"At the beginning of the season, we had troubles with turnovers," freshman center Patrick Burmester said. "As the season has gone on, we as a team have learned to value the basketball much more. We still had turnovers in the game on Saturday but I feel like the guards were phenomenal with protecting the ball. We also went into this game knowing that we could beat them. They aren't invincible like we first thought when they were ranked No. one."

The Bulldogs came out for the third straight game with high intensity levels, maintaining the lead for the first 11 minutes. Heading into the half the ‘Dogs trailed only 37-34 thanks to seven first half threes from Norton, who finished the game with 29 points, going 8-15 from long range and 5-5 from the foul line. Matching Norton in the "points" column was Southern's Keane Thomann, who went 11-17 from the field and came away with eight rebounds. 

"We played with way more confidence on offense this time around," Gardner said. "We were also fortunate to have Tom [Norton] make a bunch of three pointers. We played better against their big man but we have to start forcing our opponents to take more contested jump shots rather than letting them in the paint."