FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. – Missouri S&T survived a cold shooting night to win an exhibition contest Tuesday night, outlasting William Woods 82-75 in overtime in a game played on the U.S. Army base at Fort Leonard Wood.

 

The Miners trailed for a good portion of the night, but forced overtime when A.J. Mandani (Brampton, Ontario/) sunk two free throws with four seconds to play in regulation time. S&T proceeded to outscore the Owls 13-6 in the extra period, taking the lead for good with 2:12 to play on a three-pointer by Mike Malat (O'Fallon, Ill./O'Fallon), who led all scorers with 25 points Tuesday.

 

S&T held an 11-8 lead after Casey Noll (St. Louis, Mo./Oakville) hit a pair of free throws with 14:22 remaining in the first half, but shot only 26.5 percent in the first half and fell behind three minutes after the Noll free tosses. William Woods built its lead to as many as nine points, which was also the margin at halftime.

 

The Owls scored the first four points of the second half to take their biggest lead of the night of 13 at 41-28, but the Miners started clawing back into the game shortly after that. S&T drew to within four on a short jumper by freshman Eli Steinbeck (Hermann, Mo./Hermann) with 13:17 left, then after the Owls extended the lead back to nine, S&T made a 14-2 to get the lead.

 

Malat hit a three-pointer with 7:33 to go to cut the lead to one at 59-58, then a steal by Hank Harris (Topeka, Kan./Highland Park), led to a foul and a technical foul on William Woods; Malat hit the two technical shots to give the Miners the lead and Adam Knollmeyer (Linn, Mo./Linn) made the two free throws that followed to give S&T a 62-59 lead.

 

The Owls regained the lead on two Seth Thomas free throws after a technical foul was assessed to the Miners just under three minutes later and were able to maintain that lead into the final moments. S&T missed two chances at the basket to tie the game with 12 seconds to go, but WWU's Max Manning missed two free throws at the other end with 10 seconds to play, giving the Miners a chance to draw even.

 

Mandani drove to the basket and drew a foul, then hit the two free throws to send the game into overtime tied at 69.

 

The Miners never trailed in overtime, but didn't get the lead for good until Malat hit a 22-footer at the 2:12 mark to give S&T a 76-73 lead. Moments later, Byron Bundy (Columbia, Mo./Hickman) made a steal and a lay-in to give the Miners a five-point lead; S&T would make four-of-six at the line in the final 32 seconds to lock up the win.

Missouri S&T shot only 27.4 percent for the game but got a big scoring game from Malat, as the transfer from Southwestern Illinois College hit six of his 13 three-point tries to finish with a game-high 25 points. Three other Miners were in double figures as Mandani finished with 11 and Noll and Knollmeyer had 10 apiece. Knollmeyer had a double-double as he added 13 rebounds.

 

The Miners outrebounded the Owls by a 62-44 margin, while holding William Woods to 32.2 percent shooting on the night and forcing 30 turnovers. Noll and Harris each had four steals for S&T.

 

Dan Anderson led the Owls with 23 points.

 

Missouri S&T will open its 2009-10 regular season schedule Nov. 16 when it hosts Harding at the Bullman Multi-Purpose Building.