A strong second half effort, particularly on the defensive end, gave Missouri S&T's men's basketball team something Thursday that it had not experienced in nearly two seasons – a win in Great Lakes Valley Conference play.

 

The Miners held Saint Joseph's to 31 percent shooting after the intermission and used a critical 12-2 run with under five minutes to play in the contest to come away with a 66-58 victory over Saint Joseph's at Billy Key Court.

 

The win was the Miners' first in a conference game since Jan. 17, 2007 when they knocked off Wisconsin-Parkside.

 

Saint Joseph's led 28-20 at halftime as it held the Miners to 32 percent shooting in the opening 20 minutes. But after extending their lead to 12 in the opening moments of the second half, the Pumas had the tables turned on them as S&T started chopping away at the advantage.

 

The Miners scored eight straight points, culminating with a Marquis Jones (St. Louis, Mo./Cardinal Ritter) layup, to make it a four-point game at the 14:34 mark. After Andrew Helmer canned a jumper to stop that surge, Jones knocked down a three-pointer to get S&T to within three.

 

Roughly a minute and a half later, Owain Hall (Kingston, Jamica/) hit a three-pointer to knot the game at 38, then the Miners took the lead for good on a lay-in by Justin Taylor (Webster Groves, Mo./Webster Groves) with 9:53 to go.

 

The Miners build the lead to five with 7:06 to play on another layup by Taylor, but the Pumas got baskets from Phillip Collins and A.J. Mahar to draw to within one at 47-46 with 5:26 to play.

 

S&T, however, had an answer to the Pumas' challenge. After Casey Noll (St. Louis, Mo./Oakville) hit two free throws to extend the margin to three, Jones drained three-pointers on back-to-back trips to give the Miners their biggest lead of the night at 55-46.

 

Taylor followed by making a pair of free throws at the 2:34 mark to give the Miners an 11-point advantage, then the Miners finished off the victory at the free throw line by making seven-of-10 at the charity stripe in the final two minutes.

 

Jones hit five three-pointers in the contest and finished with a career-high 21 points, while Curtis Mosley (Chicago, Ill./) recorded the first double-double of his Miner career with 14 points and 13 rebounds. S&T also got 11 points from Taylor.

 

S&T (6-8, 1-5 GLVC) shot 45 percent in the second half and outrebounded the Pumas 41-31 in the contest. 

 

Saint Joseph's (8-7, 2-5 GLVC) had three players in double figures, led by Collins and Helmer with 12 points apiece. The Pumas finished the game making only 38.5 percent and just two-of-14 from three-point range, missing all seven of their tries in the second half.

 

The Miners will host Indianapolis Saturday at 3 p.m.