Box Score ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T was able to overcome a cold shooting first half in its exhibition win Monday at Western Illinois, but wasn't able to do the same Saturday night as it dropped its season opener to Emporia State 66-56 at Billy Key Court.

The Miners shot just 33 percent for the night and as a result fell behind by as many as 17 points in the second half.  S&T made a game rally, closing to within four on two occasions with roughly four minutes to play, but couldn't complete the comeback to drop the first of two games it will play against the Hornets in the first 11 days of the season.

The cold shooting started right at the outset, as the Miners scored on their opening possession of the game but didn't score again for another four minutes, in which time ESU took a 9-2 lead.  S&T was able to draw even at 15 on a three-pointer by Julian Johnson (St. Louis, Mo./Whitfield School) at the 11:12 mark, but then allowed the Hornets to score 12 of the next 14 points to take a 10-point advantage.

Emporia State would lead by nine at the half, then outscored S&T 9-1 to begin the second half to take its largest lead of the game at 45-28.

S&T would begin to cut into the Hornet advantage, getting it down to 10 on a pair of free throws by Eli Steinbeck (Hermann, Mo./Hermann) with 11:46 remaining and then down to eight on a lay-in by Bryce Foster (Florissant, Mo./Hazelwood Central) with just under 11 minutes to go.  After ESU pushed the lead back out to 13 again, the Miners made one more big run to get as close as they would.

Down 53-40 with eight minutes left, the Miners scored nine straight points, culminating with a pair of free throws by Julian Johnson (St. Louis, Mo./Whitfield School) with 4:11 left to make it 53-49.  Following two free throws by ESU's Gavin Brown, Aaron Emmanuel (Brampton, Ont./LaLumiere School) scored at the basket to make it a four-point game again.

However, Emporia's Taylor Euler drained a three-pointer on the Hornets' next possession to extend the lead to seven and S&T was unable to get any closer over the final three minutes.

Foster had 11 points to lead the Miners and Johnson was also in double figures with 10.  Mudi Eruteya led the Miners with nine rebounds and Foster pulled down eight, but the Miners were outrebounded by a 40-37 margin and also turned the ball over 19 times.

Emporia State's Kaleb Wright, a transfer from Mineral Area College, led all scorers with 22 points.  The Hornets shot 41 percent in the game and connected seven times from three-point range, with six of the treys coming in the first half.

Missouri S&T will return to action next Saturday when it hosts Southwest Baptist in a 7 p.m. game at Billy Key Court.