SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – Oh so close.

 

Missouri S&T appeared to have won Thursday's Great Lakes Valley Conference opener at Illinois-Springfield when Bryce Foster (Florissant, Mo./Hazelwood Central) hit a three-pointer with 5.7 seconds to go, but Zach Lewis' putback of a miss by Richard Oruche just before the buzzer sounded gave the Prairie Stars a 115-114 win in double overtime.

 

UIS led 112-107 after Lewis hit two free throws with 22 seconds to go, but the Miners got four points in a span of two seconds to trim the lead to one with 13 seconds to play. Justin Simms made one of two at the line two seconds later to make it a two-point game, but Foster drilled a three from in front of the S&T bench to give the Miners the lead.

 

Oruche came down and missed everything on his three-point try, but Lewis, on the back side of the play, put the ball back in to win it for UIS at the horn to send S&T to thea tough defeat.

 

The Miners made only five of their first 16 shots and fell behind 21-11 in the process at he 9:51 mark of the first half. S&T clawed back and took its first lead of the contest at 26-25 on a foul line jumper by Mike Malat (O'Fallon, Ill./O'Fallon).

 

After the Prairie Stars scored to retake the lead, the Miners started a 17-4 run to take their biggest lead of the first half of 12 at 43-31. The run was fueled by the defense, which scored 11 of those points off turnovers.

 

The Miners would lead 46-37 at halftime, but UIS would knot the score by scoring the first nine points of the second half, getting a three-pointer from Richard Oruche at the 16:55 mark to even the score at 46.

 

After the Miners scored five straight points to regain the lead, the Prairie Stars answered with seven in a row to retake the lead, moving ahead 53-51 on a jumper by Justin Sims.

 

Malat tied the game moments later with a layup, then Hank Harris (Topeka, Kan./Highland Park) hit a driving layup nearly a minute later to put S&T back on top 55-54. Byron Bundy (Columbia, Mo./Hickman) extended the lead to four by hitting a three-pointer, but UIS scored nine of the next 10 points to take a four-point lead of its own at 63-59.

 

The Prairie Stars led 67-62 when Bundy got a four-point play at the 8:19 mark to cur the lead to one, then regained the advantage 23 seconds later when Harris hit a pair of free throws.

 

After the teams traded the lead over the next couple of minutes, S&T moved back in front on a lay-in by Adam Knollmeyer (Linn, Mo./Linn) with 6:26 to go to take a 72-71 lead.

 

S&T would push the lead to six with 2:18 left on a long three-pointer by Malat, then led 89-84 after A.J. Mandani (Brampton, Ontario/) hit a pair at the line with 37 seconds remaining. But the Prairie Stars came back and tied the game on two free throws by Brandon Farmer with 15 seconds left, then a turnover by the Miners with seven seconds to go gave UIS a chance to win the game.

 

However, the Prairie Stars lost the ball on their possession and the game ended up going to overtime.

 

In the first overtime, UIS would take the lead on a three-pointer by Matt Thornton; he would hit another three later in the period to give the Prairie Stars a four-point lead. S&T was able to tie it on a basket by Harris and two free throws by Malat with 40 seconds to go, but Malat missed a baseline jumper with five seconds left that could have put the Miners in front, then Farmer missed a long three before the buzzer to send the game to a second overtime.

 

S&T had five players in double figures led by Malat with a career-high 30 points. Harris scored a career-high 20, while Bundy had 18 and Mandani 16. The Miners shot 53.3 percent in the game and connected 11 times from three-point range.

 

Oruche scored 36 to lead all scorers, while Farmer had 26 and Lewis 18. The Prairie Stars (2-1, 1-0 GLVC) finished the night at 57.4 percent from the floor and hit 13 three-pointers.

 

Missouri S&T (2-4, 0-1 GLVC) will face Quincy Saturday in a 3:15 p.m. game in Quincy, Ill.