ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T took a good Harding team to the wire in its season opener Monday night, but the visiting Bisons were able to escape the Bullman Multi-Purpose Building with a 75-70 win over the Miners.

 

Harding took the lead for good on a basket by Matt Garner – who led all scorers in the game with 19 points – with 3:40 to play. After the Bisons extended their lead to four, S&T was able to close the gap to a point on a three-pointer by freshman Bryce Foster with 1:06 to play.

 

The Miners then got a steal by Casey Noll with 39 seconds to go, but the Miners were unable to convert the opportunity to take the lead and Harding was able to hold on, getting two free throws from Stephen Blake and a tip-in by Trent Morgan in the final 27 seconds.

 

S&T jumped out to an early six-point lead, as Foster scored five of the first seven Miner points. Harding took its first lead of the night at 13-12 on a lay-in by Kirk Porter at the 12:35 mark, then held the lead until Foster finished off a fast break with a lay-in to put S&T up 27-25.

 

Harding regained the lead before the Miners drew even again at 37 on a trey by Mike Malat, but the Bisons scored the final four points of the half to take a 41-37 lead to the locker room.

 

Foster and Malat accounted for 28 of the Miners' 37 points in the first half, but they got scoring help in the second half from Noll and A.J. Mandani, who saw little playing time in the first half after picking up two early fouls.

 

Harding held a four-point lead five minutes into the second half, but the Miners got a dunk from Noll to close out a fast break and a three-pointer from Mandani to take their first lead of the second half at 51-50. The teams swapped the lead over the next four-plus minutes, then Byron Bundy nailed a three-point to put S&T up by three with nine minutes to play.

 

S&T would eventually extend that lead to five, but Harding scored seven straight points, capped by a Garner three-pointer, to take a 67-65 lead with 4:14 to go.

 

Noll hit two free throws on the Miners' next trip down the floor to knot the score, but Garner hit the jumper from just inside the three-point line to move the Bisons back in front for good.

 

The Miners shot only 37.3 percent for the game, but connected on 10 of their 26 three-point attempts. Foster led the Miners with 18 points in his Miner debut as four S&T players reached double figures.

 

Noll had 15 points and four steals for the Miners, while Malat finished with 13 and Mandani with 10. Aaron Redecker had nine rebounds to lead S&T and Hank Harris dished out 10 assists.

 

Garner led all scorers with 19 points as the Bisons also had four players in double figures.

 

The Miners will return to action Friday when they take on Missouri Southern at the Pittsburg State Classic in Pittsburg, Kan. S&T will also face the host Gorillas on Saturday.