Fulton Leads UMSL Men’s Basketball to Win over Wisconsin-Parkside in GLVC Opener

ST. LOUIS, MO., December 2, 2010 – Junior Gerald Fulton hit 12-of-16 shots from the field, scoring a game-high 32 points to lead the University of Missouri-St. Louis men’s basketball team to an 82-74 Great Lakes Valley Conference opener victory over Wisconsin-Parkside Thursday night.

Fulton’s shooting helped the Tritons to 59.3 percent accuracy in the game, including a solid 69.2 percent in the second half.

UMSL moves to 4-1 overall with the win, including 1-0 in the GLVC, while the Rangers slip to 1-4 and 0-1 in the league.

Junior Justyn Watkins added 11 points, while junior Justin Hightower dished out eight assists. Senior Ryan Lawrence finished with eight points, six rebounds, three assists and two steals.

Holding a four-point lead midway through the second half, the Tritons used an 11-4 run to push their advantage to 58-47 on a Fulton lay-up with 11:04 to play. The Rangers then began chipping away at the deficit, pulling within 64-61 with 5:57 on the clock, but that would be as close as they would get.

Wisconsin-Parkside shot 46.6 percent from the field and owned a 29-26 rebounding advantage, including a 13-8 edge on the offensive end.

In a first half that saw five score ties and seven lead changes, the Tritons were able to take a 31-25 lead into halftime. With the score tied at 19-19, Watkins hit a jumper to give UMSL the two-point advantage and ignited a 10-3 run that was capped by back-to-back Lawrence lay-ups for a 29-22 lead with 3:11 to play. Lawrence had six points and a steal during that run.

UMSL returns to action Saturday, hosting Lewis at 3 p.m.

TRITONS TIDBITS: UMSL won its GLVC opener for the second straight year and is now 4-11 in league lidlifters… the win snapped a two-game losing skid to Wisconsin-Parkside… it was also the third straight victory for UMSL.