PITTSBURG, Kan. – Missouri S&T was in a position to make up for a sizeable loss on Friday when it took a double-digit lead at Pittsburg State Saturday night, but the Gorillas rallied to break the Miners' hearts as Spencer Magana's three-pointer with five seconds left gave Pitt State a 63-62 win.

 

The Miners led 56-45 with 7:36 to play after a three-pointer by Byron Bundy (Columbia, Mo./Hickman), but went ice cold after that, as they did not make another shot from the field after that and missed some critical free throws down the stretch to keep the Gorillas' hopes alive.

Magana hit three treys in the final 1:17, the first cutting the Miner lead to two at 59-57. S&T freshman Bryce Foster (Florissant, Mo./Hazelwood Central) hit a pair of free throws with 41 seconds to go to extend the lead to four, but Magana drilled another three with 29 seconds remaining to trim the lead to one.

 

S&T got the lead to two when Adam Knollmeyer (Linn, Mo./Linn) hit the first of two free throws with 17 seconds on the clock, but Magana made a shot that bounced around the rim and fell in with five seconds remaining to give Pitt State its first lead since the latter stages of the first half.

 

The Miners came up the floor quickly after a timeout, but A.J. Mandani (Brampton, Ontario/) had the ball knocked away from him by PSU's Andy Smith as the clock was running out to squelch the last S&T hope.

 

Missouri S&T got off to a hot start from long range, making three of their first four shots from beyond the three-point line. Bundy hit threes on back-to-back trips to give S&T a six-point lead nearly five minutes into the contest.

 

Pitt State was able to regroup and took a 20-17 lead on a basket by Rodney Grace with 8:20 to play in the half. However, the Miners made a 12-0 run to reclaim the advantage, moving back into the lead on two free throws by Mike Malat (O'Fallon, Ill./O'Fallon) at the 5:45 mark.

 

Malat extended the run by hitting a three-pointer out of the corner, then a basket by Mandani and another by Marquis Jones (St. Louis, Mo./Cardinal Ritter) after he made a steal gave S&T its biggest lead of the half of nine at 32-23.

 

S&T would lead 34-31 at halftime, largely due to a six-of-10 performance from three-point land in the first 20 minutes.

 

The Miners were able to extend their lead in the early stages of the second half, pushing it out to 13 points on a pair of free throws by Mike Malat (O'Fallon, Ill./O'Fallon) with 12:31 to go.

 

Pitt State scored the next six points to cut the margin to seven, but S&T responded by getting the lead back into double figures at the 7:36 mark when Bundy drained his third three-pointer of the night. However, that turned out to be the last shot the Miners would make from the floor.

 

S&T had three players finish in double figures with Bundy leading the way with 16 points. Jones finished the night with 12 points and Malat ended with 10. The Miners shot only 32 percent from the floor.

 

Magana led all scorers with 21 points, making all four of the Gorillas' three-pointers in the contest. Pitt State shot 42.6 percent in the game, but had missed 12 of its first 13 treys before Magana's late heroics.

Missouri S&T will return to action Tuesday when it hosts future Great Lakes Valley Conference member William Jewell at 7:30 p.m. at the Bullman Multi-Purpose Building.