ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T's men's basketball team struggled with its shooting all night Thursday, which led to a 70-50 defeat at the hands of Rockhurst at Billy Key Court. The loss eliminated the Miners from contention for a berth in the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament.

Over the first 11 minutes of the game, the Miners and Hawks played on even terms. Rockhurst led for the first six minutes of the game, but S&T tied the score at 10 on a basket by Bryce Foster (Florissant, Mo./Hazelwood Central) at the 13:29 mark. Moments later, Tommy Pelczynski (Nashville, Ill./Nashville) drained a three-pointer to give S&T its first lead of the night at 13-11, then after Aaron Morrissey tied it for the Hawks, Mike Malat (O'Fallon, Ill./O'Fallon) answered with a lay-in to give the Miners a two-point lead again.

Brett Hornung's two free throws at the 12:03 mark knotted the score at 15 and the Miners would never lead again. Eli Steinbeck (Hermann, Mo./Hermann) hit a free throw to tie it at 16, but the Hawks rattled off six straight to take the lead for good.

S&T trailed 22-20 after a basket by Steinbeck, but the Hawks would score nine of the next 10 points to take their largest lead of the half at 31-21 with just over a minute to go in the half. Rockhurst would lead by eight at the intermission, then used a series of spurts in the second half to extend its lead while the Miners were struggling from the floor.

The Miners shot only 33.3 percent for the night and made just three of their 17 attempts from three-point range. Rockhurst, meanwhile, shot 48 percent in the second half and finished the night at 42.9 percent from the field.

Foster was the only Miner to finish in double figures with 17 points. Pelczynski finished with eight points and Malat with seven.

Rockhurst's Najja Nicholson led all scorers with 22 points, including a four-of-five night from long range. The Hawks (8-17, 6-11 GLVC) also outrebounded the Miners by a 37-28 margin.

The Miners (7-17, 3-14 GLVC) will close out their 2010-11 season Saturday when they host Missouri-St. Louis in a 7:30 p.m. game.