ROLLA, Mo. -- A ragged stretch in the second half doomed the Missouri S&T men's basketball team Monday night as visiting Indianapolis took control of a close game and left town with a 67-55 win in Great Lakes Valley Conference play.

 

The Miners had a 32-31 lead following a basket by Adam Knollmeyer (Linn, Mo./Linn) with 16:46 left in the contest, but the Greyhounds held the Miners to just four points over the next seven minutes and grabbed a 14-point lead in the process. S&T could only get as close as seven from that point on as it dropped its fifth consecutive game.

 

After a slow start to the contest – the teams combined to score just six points during the first seven minutes of play – the pace picked up over the course of the first half as the Miners were able to build a four-point lead with under 10 minutes left. However, Indianapolis took the lead back on Nate Blank's basket with 6:29 remaining before halftime and carried a 27-25 lead to the locker room.

 

A.J. Mandani (Brampton, Ontario/)'s basket at the 18:16 mark of the second half gave the Miners the lead back at 29-28, then Knollmeyer's aforementioned layup put S&T up 32-31. The Greyhounds answered right back on a basket by DeWann Squires to regain the lead and start their 19-4 run that broke the game open.

 

S&T finished the game with 18 turnovers and five of them came during the course of UIndy's second half run.

 

The Miners were able to draw to within seven at 54-47 following a jumper in the lane by Bryce Foster (Florissant, Mo./Hazelwood Central) with 4:14 to go, but that ended up being as close as they would get.

 

S&T shot 44.9 percent for the game and had three players in double figures, led by Knollmeyer with 16 points. Mandani finished the night with 14 and Foster with 12.

 

Darius Adams, who scored 10 of the points in the fateful run by the Greyhounds, led all scorers with 26 points. Adams, the leading scorer on the season for UIndy (10-7, 4-4 GLVC) with an average of 17.7 points a game, scored 21 of his 26 in the second half.

 

Missouri S&T (5-12, 1-8 GLVC) will host Lewis Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at Billy Key Court.