ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T's men's basketball team went toe-to-toe with Southern Indiana for a good portion of the night, but the eighth-ranked Screaming Eagles broke free in the final nine minutes to spoil the Miners' upset bid and win the Great Lakes Valley Conference contest 72-59 at Billy Key Court.

 

S&T trailed by just four after a layup by Adam Knollmeyer (Linn, Mo./Linn) with 8:56 to play, but USI's Marvin Gray scored the next five points in a span of 37 seconds to extend the lead to nine; the Miners were unable to any closer than seven over the rest of the night.

 

The Miners were able to answer Southern Indiana's early aggressiveness, hanging in with it and then taking a lead of 19-16 on a three-pointer by Mike Malat (O'Fallon, Ill./O'Fallon) at the 9:18 mark of the first half. 

 

USI took the lead back before Hank Harris (Topeka, Kan./Highland Park) hit a pair of free throws for S&T to knot the score at 21, then the Eagles reclaimed the advantage with a 6-0 run and held it for the rest of the half, even as the Miners stayed on their heels and got to within one just before the intermission when Harris hit two more free throws.

 

Bryce Foster (Florissant, Mo./Hazelwood Central)'s lay-in 39 seconds into the second half to put the Miners back on top and began an exchange over the next several minutes that saw 10 lead changes take place. The Miners took their last lead at 49-48 on a driving layup by Harris off a pass from Malat with 13:19 to go, then USI scored seven straight points to take a six-point lead.

 

A.J. Mandani (Brampton, Ontario/) ended the run with a foul line jumper, but Gray scored at the other end to push the margin back to six. Knollmeyer answered when he caught a tough pass in the lane from Byron Bundy (Columbia, Mo./Hickman) and scored, but Gray drilled another jumper and followed that with a three-pointer moments later that extended USI's lead to nine at 62-53 with just over eight minutes to go.

 

The Miners, who shot the ball well for much of the night and ended up at 44.7 percent for the game, struggled from the floor down the stretch as they made only two shots in the final eight minutes and turned the ball over five times.

 

Malat led the Miners in scoring with 12 points, while Foster finished with 11 and Harris with eight off the bench. The Miners outrebounded USI 33-31 and went 7-of-17 from three-point range, but made only two in the second half and also finished the night with 24 turnovers.

 

The Eagles (14-0, 5-0 GLVC), who were playing their first true road game of the season Thursday, got a game-high 16 points from Tyrone Bradshaw and 14 from Gray, 12 of which came in the second half.   The Miners held Jamar Smith, the GLVC's leading scorer with an average of 24.6 points per game prior to the contest, to 2-of-15 shooting from the floor and a season-low nine points.

 

USI shot a season-low 39.7 percent Thursday after shooting 54 percent over its first 13 games, marking the third straight game that the Miners have held a team under 40 percent from the floor.

 

Missouri S&T (5-8, 1-4 GLVC) has another visit from a nationally-ranked team on tap Saturday, as No. 13 Kentucky Wesleyan will come to town for a 3 p.m. contest. The Panthers won their 15^th straight game – the longest current winning streak in NCAA Division II – with a 79-67 win Thursday at No. 18 Drury.