Box Score EMPORIA, Kan. – Missouri S&T struggled with its shooting at the outset of each half Tuesday night as it dropped its first regular season game away from home, dropping an 83-70 decision to Emporia State at White Auditorium.

The Miners made only one field goal in the first five minutes of the opening half as they fell behind by nine points in that stretch, then didn't make their first shot from the field until over six minutes were played in the second half, by which time they trailed by 18.

Emporia State took an 11-2 lead in the first five minutes and led by as many as 17 in the first half, before the Miners made up some of the ground before the half ended, getting a three-pointer from Bryce Foster (Florissant, Mo./Hazelwood Central) with 38 seconds left to cut the halftime margin to 11 at 38-27.

However, the Miners – who shot only 33.3 percent in the first half – went into another shooting drought when the second half began, which allowed the Hornets to take a 48-30 lead before S&T got its first shot from the floor to fall.

ESU would build its lead to as many as 21 points before the Miners were able to trim the lead down to 10 on a pair of free throws by Nusrath Khan (Morton Grove, Ill./Maine East) at the 2:39 mark.  That was as close as S&T would get as it would make only one shot over the balance of the game, while Emporia State made seven-of-eight at the free throw line to keep the Miners at bay.

Khan led the Miners with 17 points, scoring 15 of them in the second half, while Mudi Eruteya added 14 and led S&T with eight rebounds.  The Miners shot 59.1 percent in the final 20 minutes after the slow start and finished at 44.9 percent for the night.

But the Hornets (4-1) shot at a blazing 59.2 percent clip in the first half and finished at 54 percent for the night as they had five players in double figures, led by Kaleb Wright with 18 points.  Chris Sights and Gavin Brown added 15 each; Brown finished with a double-double as he also pulled down 12 rebounds.

Missouri S&T (1-2) will return to action on Nov. 29 when it hosts Westminster in a 7:30 p.m. game at the Bullman Multi-Purpose Building.