The UIS men’s basketball team came out ready to play against UMSL during Thursday night’s game.

Zach Steinberg took the tip off for the team and the men were off to yet another tough game. By half the Stars were down 29-35.

Coming back from the half, the men had some big plays. A notable mention goes to Lijah Donnelly for scoring two three-pointers and for making an amazing read, allowing him to steal the ball and score with no one down court to stop him.

With over twenty points scored, Paxton Harmon deserves recognition for his performance during his game against UMSL. Big shot after big shot the Stars took the lead with a little over nine minutes left of the game.

As the men battled back and forth the Stars fell to UMSL 65-66 making it the third game of the season the team has lost but just one basket.

After the game, Coach Walker gave a short analysis of the night’s performance and talked about how the men must overcome this loss.

Walker said, “Slow start… we fought back, and I’m proud of the way the guys fought back but the bottom line is we missed free throws in the last minute and that was the difference in the game. We have to really rely on the character of these guys, I mean this [loss] is really hard to take but we own it.”

During Saturdays game against Maryville the UIS Stars were consistent at attacking the basket and within the first twelve minutes of the game Paxton Harmon scored four three-pointers.

Though the men worked hard, by half they were down 35-39, a preview of what was to come. The Stars lost to Maryville 61-71. A notable mention goes to Eddie Longmeyer as he was a top point scorer and had a fantastic read where it looked like he just took the ball right out of the hands of his opponent from half court and made a basket for two.

When asked how he reacted to Maryville’s offence so quickly Longmeyer said, “I watched film and I knew they were going to swing it [the ball] back and forth so I was just waiting for them to swing it one more time so I could jump it and get the steal.”

After the game coach Walker exclaimed that every game from here on out is going to be a battle and a must win. Though he was upset he mentioned a lot of positive things about his team attacking the basket and working hard.

“We have really good character on this team and even when we have lost tough losses we bounce back and play well…” he said.

Paxton, who had a good game personally, said it’s hard to throw that loss out of his mind, “I don’t like losing and if anything this [tonights loss] makes me want to win more”

The Prairie Stars are on the road this week and will face Missouri S and T Thursday where they hope to secure a conference win. The Stars are currently 7-15 overall and 2-11 in the GLVC conference.