HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – The Missouri S&T men's basketball team had a tough time with Leslie Malone Thursday night as he nearly recorded a triple-double to lead 14^th-ranked Northern Kentucky to a 79-55 win over the Miners.

 

Malone posted 21 points, 14 rebounds and had eight of the Norse's 10 blocked shots in the contest as NKU led from start to finish and ended S&T's two-game winning streak in the process.

 

The Norse jumped out to an 11-2 lead in the first four minutes of the contest, but the Miners were able to draw closer with good shooting from long range. Three-pointers from Casey Noll (St. Louis, Mo./Oakville), Owain Hall (Kingston, Jamica/) and later from Curtis Mosley (Chicago, Ill./) helped S&T close the gap, then a lay-in by Adam Knollmeyer (Linn, Mo./Linn) at the 8:39 mark cut the Norse lead to five at 25-20.

 

Another basket by Hall with 6:04 left before halftime made it 31-26, but the Norse outscored the Miners 14-4 – including a 9-0 run to finish the half – to take a 45-30 lead to the locker room.

 

NKU (13-4, 6-2 GLVC) opened the second half by extending the lead even more, scoring 14 of the first 16 points after the break to take its largest lead of the night of 27 points.

 

The Miners (7-9, 2-6 GLVC), who got the differential down to 18 with seven minutes to go, finished the game shooting just 32.8 percent from the field and hitting nine-of-27 from three-point range.

 

Justin Taylor (Webster Groves, Mo./Webster Groves) led the Miners with 13 points, while Knollmeyer and Jones ended up with 11 points apiece.

 

Malone had 14 of his 21 points in the first half for the Norse, who shot 49.1 percent on the night.

 

Missouri S&T continues its road trip Saturday with another nationally-ranked team on tap as it will face No. 9 Bellarmine at 2:15 p.m.