Taurance Townsel

ST. LOUIS, Mo. -- UMR expanded a one-point halftime lead to 13 early in the second half, then held off Robert Morris-Springfield in the final moments to come away with a 67-62 win Saturday at the Missouri-St. Louis Thanksgiving Classic.

UMR led 31-30 at halftime, then came out in the second half and scored the first six points to build their biggest advantage of the contest of 37-30. UMR then pushed the lead into double figures with just under 14 minutes to go on a foul line jumper by DeJon Slaughter, then the advantage reached 13 at 48-35 about three minutes later on a three-point basket by Owain Hall.

Robert Morris cut the 13-point lead down to six with nine minutes remaining after a fast break basket by Tim Hahn. The Eagles then had a chance to trim it to four, but Tyler Moretto missed an open layup and the Miners answered when Justin Taylor beat the shot clock by canning a 15-foot jumper.

Moments later, the Eagles’ Corley Lee hit a runner in the lane to get Robert Morris to within four at 54-50, then Moretto hit a layup with just over three minutes left made it 55-52. But Townsel scored inside on the Miners’ next possession to make it a five-point game again, then after the Eagles scored, he hit two free throws to give UMR a 59-54 lead with 2:17 to play.

Robert Morris got the margin down to one on a lay-in by Moretto with 54 seconds to go, then Taylor made one of two at the line for UMR to get the lead back to two. Moretto had a chance to tie it at the free throw line with 41 seconds left, but shot an air ball on the second try after making the first to keep the Miner lead at one.

Taurance Townsel made the first of two at the line with 27 seconds left to make it 63-61, then Cameron Jones was fouled on a drive to the basket with 11.7 ticks on the clock. Jones missed the first shot and made the second, then Mosley knocked down two free throws to make the lead three.

Kari Coleman, who hit three three-pointers for the Eagles Saturday, missed an open trey with four seconds that could have tied it. Taylor iced the win for the Miners by making a pair at the line with 2.8 seconds to go.

The Miners had a 9-6 lead in the early going before the Eagles ran off 10 straight points to take their largest lead of the game.

The Miners clawed back into the contest and regained the lead at 21-20 on a layup by Townsel. After the Eagles were able to even the score at 23 with 6:34 to go in the half, Townsel scored again to put the Miners ahead for good in the first half.

Townsel had 12 points in the first half and finished with a game-high 23 points to lead the Miners. UMR also got 11 points from Mosley, while Slaughter and Aaron Hays had 10 rebounds apiece; UMR outrebounded the Eagles by a 42-27 margin.

The Miners shot 57.1 percent in the second half and finished the game at 48.2 percent.

The Miners (2-1) will face Harris-Stowe (1-3) Sunday at 1 p.m. The Hornets lost 74-60 to UMSL Saturday afternoon.