After a tough battle against Maryville, UIS could not finish. After back to back plays and tremendous teamwork, UIS men’s basketball could not catch a break as they lost Thursday night.

In the first half of the game, UIS struggled to gain control as Maryville dominated the opening minutes with an early 5-0 lead. After being down UIS came back as freshmen Dusko Despot helped UIS put points on the board.

By the end of the first half, UIS was down by nine points. Key players in the first half were Despot, Kyle Gupton and West Dawson.  Although they had an ill-fated first half and a very low scoring percentage, UIS showed tremendous skill in defending and worked hard on the offense.

Senior guard Chase Brinkley said, “Overall we played well; however, there was a moment where we had a mental lapse which dug us into a hole we could not get out of.”

Into the first minutes of the second half UIS had control of the game, connecting and putting points on the board. Gupton connected on his second triple and UIS began to catch up to Maryville.

UIS showed great improvement in the second half with a higher shooting percentage and more connected plays. Throughout the whole second half, UIS battled to get ahead of Maryville. Unfortunately UIS could not prevail and lost against Maryville 56-68.

“During the first half, if we did not have the mental lapse and dig ourselves a hole we would have definitely made more of an impact and have a better outcome,” Brinkley said.

Overall, UIS had nine turnovers and forced Maryville to 12 turnovers. Key UIS players that dominated the second half were Gupton, freshman Dylan Sparkman, and junior Regan Bruenger, all having double-digit scores.

Sparkman said, “We played real well, we just have to be able to play the full 40 minutes because when we don’t, the other team notices and takes advantage of our weakness. When we are able to play the full game we will start having more wins, which I know our team is more than capable of.”

UIS comes back for their final battle of the season Thursday against Quincy with the conference tournament on the line. UIS will tip-off at home at 7:30 p.m.