ST. JOSEPH, Mo. – Griffon men's basketball (1-1) scored its first win of the season and its first of the Brooks McKowen era Sunday, topping Missouri-St. Louis, 71-63, on Sunday evening in the D2CCA Tip-off Classic at Civic Arena in St. Joseph.

In a tight battle early, MoWest reeled off a 14-0 run to grab a 23-8 lead with 7:41 left in the first half.

The Tritons (0-2) got themselves back in it, and trailed only 31-25 at halftime.

UMSL hung around throughout the last 20 minutes, getting it to within 56-52 with stil 5:21 to go, but MoWest mustered a late 6-0 run, capped by a Noah King layup that put the Griffs ahead, 62-52, with just 3:06 to go.

MoWest got to the line 23 times in the second half and made 18 of those attempts, helping them put it away in the waning moments.

King led the way for MoWest with 21 points and six rebounds. Ty Henry scored 16 points, going 7-for-7 at the foul line. Marko Pavlovic scored nine points to go with six boards, two steals and two blocks.

William Kiburis had six points and a team-best nine rebounds to go with three assists and two steals.

MoWest made 22-of-28 at the foul line (78.6%) and won the turnover battle 20-7.

The Griffons are back in their home arena on Friday, November 14 to face Central Region foe Augustana in the annual Hillyard Tip-off Classic at MWSU Fieldhouse. Tip-off in that game is set for 12 p.m.