ROLLA, Mo. – A cold stretch in the second half doomed Missouri S&T's men's basketball team Monday night, as the Miners saw a 13-point lead disappear in a 66-54 loss to Saint Joseph's in a Great Lakes Valley Conference game at Billy Key Court.

The Miners had used a superb defensive effort over the first 25-plus minutes of the game to build the 13-point advantage.   S&T held the Pumas to 31.8 percent shooting in the opening half and outscored SJC 10-3 over a stretch of six minutes late in the first half to take a nine-point lead. The Miners, who got 14 points in the opening half from Bryce Foster (Florissant, Mo./Hazelwood Central), would eventually lead by as many as 12 before taking a nine-point lead to the locker room.

S&T maintained at least an eight-point lead over the first several minutes of the second half and took its largest lead of the game with 13 minutes to play on two free throws by Jeremy DeLange (Viera, Fla./Comenius College HS). Saint Joseph's forward Marcus Jackson, who had a monster second half, hit a jumper 25 seconds after the DeLange free throws to start the Pumas' rally.

After Jackson scored, Mike Lipton scored twice in a span of 27 seconds to bring the Pumas to within seven, then Saint Joe's continued the run and took the lead on a three-pointer by Jackson at the 8:22 mark. The Miners stopped the 15-point Puma run when Carlton Westbrook (Centralia, Ill./Centralia) hit one of two at the line, but Saint Joe's scored six more points in succession before S&T stopped the field goal drought on a three-pointer by Foster with 4:23 to play.

Foster's basket ended a 10-minute stretch in which the Miners did not score from the floor and got the Miners as close as they would be for the rest of the night, as the Pumas shot 54.2 percent in the second half while holding S&T to just 30 percent from the floor.

Foster led the Miners (6-10, 2-7 GLVC) with 19 points, while Tommy Pelczynski (Nashville, Ill./Nashville) had 11 points and Westbrook finished with 10. Pelczynski also had eight rebounds and three steals while making five of his seven shots from the floor.

Jackson scored 19 of his game-high 23 points in the second half as he was the only Saint Joseph's player to reach double figures. The Pumas also held a 41-29 advantage on the boards over the Miners as they improved to 8-8 overall and 4-4 in GLVC play.

Missouri S&T returns to the road for a two-game road trip beginning on Thursday at Wisconsin-Parkside. Game time is at 7:30 p.m., in Kenosha, Wis.