Box Score

ST. LOUIS, Mo. – A season-best performance from the field propelled Missouri S&T's men's basketball team to its second consecutive win Saturday afternoon, as the Miners shot 66.7 percent from the field to beat Maryville University 85-75 and put themselves squarely into the Great Lakes Valley Conference playoff race.

S&T torched the Saints both from the floor overall and from long range, connecting on 10-of-19 from three-point land and had five players in double figures for the first time this season.

The Miners got off to that hot start from the floor right from the outset, jumping out to an 8-2 lead in the first 2:30 of play.  After Maryville came back and took a brief three-point lead, the Miners resumed their solid shooting by running off 11 of the next 15 points to take a 25-19 advantage by the 7:52 mark.

Following a basket by Trae Pemberton that cut the lead to four, S&T made another quick run beginning with a three-pointer by Nusrath Khan (Morton Grove, Ill./Maine East) to eventually push their lead to 11 on another basket by Khan at the 3:53 mark.

The Miners would finish the first half with a 45-32 lead, shooting 65.2 percent in the first 20 minutes and having three players in double figures in the scoring column by the intermission.

S&T would continue to keep a hot hand after the break, extending the lead to a game-high 16 on a three-pointer by Bryce Foster (Florissant, Mo./Hazelwood Central) in the opening minute, one of five he would hit in the contest.  Maryville began clawing back into the game and got the lead down to five after a three-point basket by Gerald Shaw at the 14-minute mark, but S&T got the lead back into double figures on a lay-in by Julian Johnson (St. Louis, Mo./Whitfield School) and a trey by Tommy Pelczynski (Nashville, Ill./Nashville).

The Miners would eventually build the lead back to as many as 14 with six minutes remaining and the Saints only got as close as seven down the stretch before S&T finished off the win at the free throw line.

S&T, who followed up the 65 percent shooting in the first half with a  68.4 mark in the final 20 minutes, got a career-high 26 points from Foster as he recorded his first career double-double with 12 rebounds to boot.  Pelczynski added 21 for the Miners, who also got 12 points apiece from Michael Jackson (Wichita, Kan./Wichita East) and Johnson and 10 from Khan.

S&T outrebounded the Saints by a 37-28 margin and held Maryville to 40 percent from the floor, despite the 10 three-pointers the Saints connected on during the game.

Maryville (12-11, 5-10 GLVC) had four players in double figures, led by Asa Toney with 19 points.

The Miners, 5-18 overall and 4-11 in the GLVC, moved into a tie with Rockhurst in the West Division standings heading into a game with the Hawks Thursday night in Kansas City, Mo. (7:30 p.m. start).