ST. LOUIS, Mo. - Tiffin men's basketball trailed by just a point at halftime, but were unable to hold the University of Missouri-St. Louis down in the second period as the Tritons defeated the Dragons 96-80 on day two of the GLVC-GMAC Crossover on Saturday afternoon.

With the loss, the Dragons fall to 0-2 on the young season. 

For the second-straight night, Tiffin ran into a hot shooting squad as UMSL went nearly 60% from the field (32-54) and a tick under 40% from deep (8-21). With the Dragons shooting 48% and 29%, respectively, in those categories, it was once again a big factor in the outcome. Other areas of the game were extremely close, including three categories seeing the exact same totals on both sides: points off turnovers (20), second-chance points (11), and points in the paint (46).

Tiffin started well, taking an early 11-6 lead after Shane Waldon converted an old-fashioned three-point play at the 16:08 mark. The Dragons would go dry from the field over the next four minutes, as the Tritons scored seven unanswered to take a 13-11 lead. 

After some back-and-forth, UMSL went on another run to extened their advantage, going up 41-29 with just over two and a half minutes remaining in the opening half. The Dragons would wake up and cut that deficit before the buzzer, as a Justin Miller triple ignited an 11-0 run that sent TU into the half trailing by just one, 41-40. Braxton Fasone and Joshua Williams added threes during the run, along with Terrell Mabins converting a layup with a foul for a three-point play.

The Dragons were able to keep things close for the majority of the second-half, but could not quite regain the lead after coming close multiple times. With 6:38 left, Austin Schaub drilled a three to cut the deficit to 71-68, but UMSL responded with a 9-1 run to shut down the Tiffin comeback and pull away for the eventual 96-80 victory.

Austin Adams had his first great game of the new season, scoring 27 points on 11-14 shooting from the field while pulling down eight boards. Mabins nearly added a triple-double for the Dragons, settling for a double-double with 11 points, 10 assists, and six steals.