ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T held double figure leads in both halves Saturday, but was unable to hold onto those advantages and dropped a 69-66 decision to Rockhurst in a Great Lakes Valley Conference contest at the Bullman Multi-Purpose Building.

 

The Miners led by as many as 16 points in the first half and 11 on two occasions after the intermission, but saw the Hawks take the lead on a three-pointer by Aaron Morrissey with 2:08 left – Rockhurst's first lead since the first basket of the game – and eventually go up for good when Morrissey hit a pair of free throws with 36 seconds to play.

 

S&T had two chances to tie the game or take the lead in the final seconds, but Mike Malat (O'Fallon, Ill./O'Fallon) missed a pair of contested three-point shots, the last coming with a second to go.

 

After spotting the Hawks the first basket of the game, S&T rattled off 14 of the next 15 points to take an early 11-point lead. Malat hit a pair of three-pointers in that stretch as the Miners took a 14-3 lead with 13:35 left in the half.

 

S&T continued its strong performance over the first 10 minutes of the contest and eventually built the margin to 16 when Aaron Redecker (Jackson, Mo./Jackson) sunk a pair of free throws at the 9:30 mark. After a Bryce Foster (Florissant, Mo./Hazelwood Central) three-pointer made it 26-11 with 7:49 left in the half, the Hawks made a run that was sparked by two threes from Morrissey and seven points from Aaron Hill to get to within one at 28-27 by the 4:16 mark.

 

The Miners would maintain the lead through the remainder of the half, leading 37-31 at the break, then pushed the lead back out to 11 in the early moments of the second half with A.J. Mandani (Brampton, Ontario/) scoring six points in an 8-2 burst.

 

Rockhurst would start chipping away at the S&T lead as the Miners went cold from long range in the final 20 minutes. The Miners made 13 of their 17 shots inside the arc in the second half, but missed all 10 of their three-point tries and also had nine turnovers after the break. 

 

The Hawks tied the contest at 56 on a lay-in by Russell Burns with 7:49 to play, but S&T reclaimed the lead when Mandani hit a short jumper in the lane 13 seconds later. After another layup by Mandani and a three-pointer by Hill that made it a one-point game, Harris made one of two at the line and Foster finished a fast break with a dunk to put the Miners up 63-59 with 4:28 to go.

 

However, Morrissey scored five straight points, the last three on a three-pointer from the corner, to put Rockhurst on top for the first time since the opening basket of the game. Adam Knollmeyer (Linn, Mo./Linn) answered at the other end with a putback for a three-point play, putting the Miners back in front by two with 1:41 to play.

 

After Blake Baird tied the score with two free throws at the 1:31 mark, Mandani missed a three-pointer that the Hawks' Hill rebounded with just over a minute to go. Morrissey was then fouled while going to the basket and made both free throws to put the Hawks back in front.

After the first missed chance by the Miners to retake the lead, Najja Nicholson made the first of two free throws to extend the margin to three. Nicholson missed the second, however, giving the Miners one last chance with six seconds to play, but Malat missed a shot from the wing that went out of bounds as time expired.

 

The Miners finished the day by shooting 45.6 percent from the floor, but made just five-of-25 from long range. Foster led S&T with 21 points while Mandani finished the day with 14.

 

Rockhurst (8-4, 3-0 GLVC) got 25 points from Morrissey and 20 from Hill, who entered the game as the GLVC's third-leading scorer with an average of 19.5 points per game. The Hawks shot only 35.3 percent from the floor but outrebounded S&T 41-37 and committed only 10 turnovers in the game to the Miners' 15.

S&T (4-7, 0-3 GLVC) continues its homestand Monday when it faces Missouri-St. Louis in a 7:30 p.m. game at the Bullman Multi-Purpose Building.  The Tritons (8-4, 2-1 GLVC) set a school records for points in a game Saturday when they blasted Maryville 152-107.