Belmont University is located in Nashville, Tennessee. Not many Missouri fans knew that until recently—if at all. They’re ready for the Bruins to head back. Belmont, which is in its seventh year as an NCAA Division I school, earned its first win over a ranked team by beating #22/#23Mizzou 71-67 at the Hearnes Center. Tiger head coach Quin Snyder called the Tigers’ performance “abysmal”. Mizzou led 31-21 with 3:25 to go in the first half, but saw that lead get whittled down to 34-33 at the break. In the second half, Belmont took over, going on a 12-0 run and building a 57-47 lead with 8:49 to go in the game. Mizzou bounced back to tie it at 59-59, but never re-gained the lead. The Hearnes Center, which is known for its undying support of the Tigers, echoed with boo’s aimed directly at the Tiger bench. Snyder said, “They’re entitled to express their opinions. I felt like we should boo ourselves tonight.” Missouri senior Travon Bryant had just two points. He also agreed with the fans’ displeasure, calling it, “Well deserved”. Fellow senior, Rickey Paulding put in 21 points and 10 rebounds, but admits that the Bruins were the better team saying “I think overall they definitely out-hustled us as far as getting to loose balls and just playing harder than we did.” Belmont took advantage of 14 Missouri turnovers and scoring 22 points off of them. Steve Drabyn led the charge for Belmont, hitting 4 of 7 three pointers—the Bruins hit 13 on the night—and scoring 16 points. Mizzou drops to 4-4 and has lost four of their last five games.
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