Despite building an 11-point lead in the opening minutes of play, the McKendree Bearcats team dropped a 78-54 decision Saturday to Missouri-St. Louis in St. Louis.

In the first nine minutes of play, McKendree hit four of its first five 3-point attempts on its way to a 20-9 lead.

UMSL (9-4, 2-3 GLVC) started to chip away at its deficit, and used a 14-4 run to pull within 24-23 with 7:04 left in the half.

Clinton Happe helped the Bearcats stretch the lead back to 27-23 with a 3 at the 5:06 mark, which proved to be McKendree's final points of the first half.

The Tritons closed the half by scoring the final six points to take a 29-27 lead into the break.

McKendree missed its final seven shots of the opening half.

Over the first seven minutes of the second half, UMSL used an 18-3 run to extend its lead to 47-30 lead. McKendree battled back and pulled within 55-54 following a 3 by Happe with 9:09 on the clock. The Tritons then put the game out of reach by scoring 11 of the next 12 points to build a 66-45 advantage with 5:56 to play.

Junior guard Happe led the offensive charge for McKendree (7-7, 1-3 GLVC) with 17 points, while freshman forward Matt Murphy added 16 points. Happe and sophomore guard Mike DiGregorio each pulled down a team-best eight rebounds in the effort for the Bearcats.

Darian Cartharn led UMSL with 18 points, four assists and three steals. Joshua McCoy added 12 points and seven rebounds, while Isiah Nunn scored 11 points and pulled down seven rebounds in a reserve role for the Tritons.

Temple 64, St. Louis 54

In Philadelphia, Khalif Wyatt netted 24 points and Anthony Lee added a double-double as Temple pulled out a 64-54 win over St. Louis in Atlantic 10 Conference action Saturday.

Wyatt was 7-of-11 shooting and knocked down 3 of 4 3-pointers. Lee scored 20 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for his third double-double of the season.

The Owls (11-4, 1-1) made 47.9 percent (23 of 48) from the field and connected on 5 of 11 3-point attempts.

Rob Loe led the Billikens (12-4, 1-1) with 17 points on 7-of-11 shooting, including 3 of 4 from 3-point range. He added 11 rebounds for his first career double-double. Dwayne Evans added nine points and 13 rebounds.

St. Louis threatened late, getting within 58-54 on Mike McCall Jr.'s free throws with 38 seconds left. Wyatt hit two foul shots on the ensuing possession, though, and after a Billiken miss, Lee added two more free throws.

SIUC 76, Indiana State 71

In Carbondale, Desmar Jackson scored 29 points and grabbed eight rebounds to pace Southern Illinois University Carbondale to a victory over Indiana State.

SIUC (8-8, 1-4 Missouri Valley) got 11 points from Anthony Beane Jr. and 13 rebounds from Jeff Early.

Indiana State (10-6, 3-2) had four men score in double figures. Manny Arop scored 16 points, Jake Odum and Lucas Eitel had 15 each and Justin Gant had 10.

Indiana State remained within striking distance deep into the game.

R.J. Mahurin hit a jumper with 2:08 left to cut the deficit to 64-59, but Indiana State could not make much headway after that.

Women's basketball UMSL 65, McKendree 50

The Bearcats fell to Missouri-St. Louis in a Great Lakes Valley Conference road game.

A layup by Shelby Woelfel put McKendree in front 5-2 in the first minute of play, but the Tritons used an 8-0 run to take a 10-5 lead at the 15:21 mark of the first half.

UMSL held onto its five-point lead for the next seven minutes, but jumpers by sophomore guard Haeley Kreisel and Woelfel on back-to-back possessions cut McKendree's deficit to 17-16 at the 6:55 mark.

The Tritons went on an 11-0 run over the next three minutes to take a 28-16 lead. The Bearcats would go into the half down 34-21.

A layup by Woelfel and a 3 from sophomore guard Caty Ponce cut the deficit to 34-26, a minute into the second half, but UMSL went on a 10-3 run to extend its lead out to 44-29 with 15:03 left.

McKendree outscored the Tritons 9-2 over the next four minutes to cut the score to 46-38, but UMSL jumped back out to a 15-point lead and held on down the stretch.

Woelfel led McKendree (5-7, 0-4) with 11 points. Senior guard Leann Voss led all players with 10 rebounds.

Kelly McGovern led all players with 16 points for the Tritons.