St. Louis, Mo. – The No. 16 Washington University in St. Louis men's basketball team defeated Millikin, 71-55, on Tuesday evening in the Field House. The Bears are now 3-1 and handed Millikin its first loss of the season.

WashU was up for nearly the entire game and closed out the final 7:38 on a 23-10 run to secure the win over the Big Blue.
 
The Bears started things off on a 9-2 run, starting with a jumper from first-year Yogi Oliff. Sophomore Hayden Doyle drained a 3-pointer and sophomore Drake Kindsvater followed up a pair of free throws with a steal and a dunk, prompting a Millikin timeout.
 
A layup from senior Nate Bloedorn and a 3-pointer from first-year Will Grudzinski at 14:43 put the Bears up by double digits, 14-4. Another bucket from Bloedorn extended that to 12 points.
 
A pair of free throws from Millikin's Landon Hullinger started a 7-0 run for the Big Blue which ultimately cut WashU's lead down to 20-16 with just under 10 minutes remaining in the first half.
 
The Bears would go on to extend the lead back up to as many as nine points several times. Kindsvater laid one in with 22 seconds remaining in the first half to send WashU into halftime with a 36-27 lead.
 
Millikin came out of the break to score the first five points, making it a 36-32 game.
 
WashU went on a 6-1 run behind a layup from senior Kevin Davet, a pair of free throws from Oliff and a layup from graduate student Charlie Jacob to take a 42-33 lead with 13:47 remaining.
 
Six-straight points brought the Big Blue within three points, 44-41, and remained within a handful of points until Doyle netted a 3-pointer with 7:13 remaining. Davet followed that with a layup and a pair of free throws to extend the Bears' lead back to 10 points.
 
An and-one play from Jacob extended the Bears lead to 60-47 with 3:27 left on the clock.
 
Millikin closed the difference to 10 points with 2:20 remaining but that is the closest the Big Blue would come as the clock ticked down. From there, WashU would score 11 of the final 13 points en route to the 16-point win.
 
Jacob led the Bears with 16 points, four rebounds and two assists while Doyle had 13 points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals. Kindsvater also reached double-figures with 12 points, seven rebounds and two steals. Jake Wolf chipped in eight points and pulled down a team-high eight rebounds. Oliff put in four points and had a team-high six assists and five steals.
 
The Bears head to Augustana on Sunday for a 3 p.m. game before returning home Dec. 2-3 for the 38^th Lopata Classic.