Box Score

BOCA RATON, Fla. – Missouri S&T's game effort Monday evening fell short as Barry used a 7-0 run at a critical juncture of the game to take a lead it would not relinquish in a 54-50 win over the Miners on the second day of the Courtyard by Marriott Classic at Lynn University.

The Miners, who trailed for the entire first half and the first 12-plus minutes of the second half, took leads of 43-41 and 45-43, but after taking that second lead, saw the Buccaneers make that 7-0 spurt to move in front for good.

Barry took as much as a 10-point lead in the first half on two occasions, the last at 23-13 with just over seven minutes to play.  However, behind junior forward Bryce Foster (Florissant, Mo./Hazelwood Central), the Miners ran off eight straight points – including a pair of three-pointers by Foster in that stretch – to cut the lead down to two.

S&T would get to within one later in the half on a three-pointer by Tommy Pelczynski (Nashville, Ill./Nashville), but Barry would end up taking a four-point lead of 30-26 to the locker room.

The Buccaneers would extend that advantage back to nine in the early stages of the second half, going up 41-32 on a basket by Emory Bennett with 14:19 to go.  S&T responded with an 11-0 run to take its first lead of the contest, as Michael Jackson (Wichita, Kan./Wichita East) tied the game by making one-of-two at the line and then made two with 7:30 remaining to put the Miners in front.

After Vladimir Raymonvil hit an off-balance shot to tie the score, S&T went back into the lead when Pelczynski hit a pair at the charity stripe with 5:04 left.    Justin McCoy scored on a lay-up nine seconds later to tie it again, then the Bucs went ahead for good on Damien Dwaine's three-point play with exactly four minutes to go.

Trailing 50-45, Foster drilled a three-pointer to trim the margin to two, but after getting a stop on the defensive end, the Miners came up empty on their next trip down the floor and McCoy made two free throws at the 1:16 mark to make it a four-point game.  S&T did not score again until eight seconds remained in the contest.

The Miners shot 41.3 percent for the game and held the Buccaneers to 30.9 percent, the best defensive effort from that standpoint on the season.  However, Barry outrebounded the Miners 35-31 and outscored S&T by nine points (16-7) from the free throw line.

Foster led all scorers in the game with 18 points and Carlton Westbrook (Centralia, Ill./Centralia) added 10 for the Miners, who also got nine points from Jackson and seven from Pelczynski, who added a game-high seven boards.

Bennett and Evan White had 12 points apiece to lead the Buccaneers (5-7).

Missouri S&T, who fell to 1-10 on the year with Monday's setback, will be idle from game action until Jan. 5 when it resumes Great Lakes Valley Conference play at Southern Indiana.