The William Jewell men's basketball team fell to 7-11 overall, and 2-8 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference with a 68-51 loss to Missouri-St. Louis on Thursday night on the road. 

The Cardinals struggled consistently on the offensive end shooting just 29 percent (17-59) from the field, and a dismal 20 percent (3-15) from the three-point line. 

Despite the lopsided final score Jewell played well early on as they trailed just 35-27 following an UMSL three-point shot at the buzzer, to end the first half. The Cardinals crawled their way back within three at 41-38 to open the second half, following two free throws from junior Javier De La Blanca who returned after missing nearly three weeks due to injury. 

The two teams went over two minutes without scoring before UMSL broke loose for a four point lead. Jordan Tanner connected on two free throws to pull the Cardinals within one at 43-42. The Triton's Hunter Reine hit a layup and was fouled on the play with 9:49 remaining which proved to be turning point in the game as the Cardinals could never quite recover and they got no closer than three points and saw the UMSL lead grow as large as 13 with under three minutes to play. 

Along with the poor shooting Jewell was hindered by personnel issues, as Austin Regier, who leads the GLVC in rebounding average was forced to sit large minutes in the second half with foul trouble. The Cardinals were also missing the 13 points per game from Matt Lassen who did not make the trip to St. Louis due to illness. 

Jordan Tanner led Jewell with 12 points and nine rebounds while Darius Tomlin added ten points and three assists. Larry Fitzgerald also chipped in nine and pulled down eight boards. 

Up next the Cardinals will take the Saints of Maryville University on Saturday afternoon at approximately 3:00 p.m. in St. Louis, Mo.