Box Score
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – It may have done it the hard way, but Missouri S&T's men's basketball team was finally able to get a win in its personal house of horrors Thursday night – and virtually punched its ticket to the Scheels Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament in the process.

The Miners beat Rockhurst in Mason-Halpin Fieldhouse for the first time ever Thursday by a count of 73-72 in overtime, first overcoming a nine-point deficit with seven minutes to play, a Hawk basket with two seconds left in regulation time and another game-tying basket with 19 seconds remaining in the extra period before finally getting a go-ahead free throw by Carlton Westbrook (Centralia, Ill./Centralia) with four seconds left to win it.

As a result, S&T won for the third time in a row – all away from home – and moved one game ahead of Rockhurst in the GLVC standings with two games to play and also hold the tiebreaker over the Hawks by completing a season sweep over them.  The Miners, now 6-18 overall and 5-11 in the GLVC, only need a victory or a Rockhurst loss in those two remaining games to clinch a playoff berth.

The Miners got off to a  good start Thursday night, hitting shots on their first three possessions of the game to take an early 7-5 lead.  After Rockhurst scored eight straight points to take a six-point lead, S&T answered with an 8-0 run to retake the advantage at the 10:04 mark on two free throws by Nusrath Khan (Morton Grove, Ill./Maine East).

Following a Hawk basket by James Robinson that tied the score, Julian Johnson (St. Louis, Mo./Whitfield School) made a layup to put S&T back in front.  But following the 10-minute media timeout, the Hawks went on a 7-0 run to take a 22-17 at the 7:58 mark.

Rockhurst's lead would grow to 10 at 31-21 after a three-pointer by Brandon McCann with just under three minutes to go in the half, but those would turn out to be the last Hawk points of the first half as the Miners were able to trim the lead to seven by the intermission.

S&T continued to draw closer at the start of the second half, holding Rockhurst scoreless for nearly four minutes to open the period and moved to within three at 31-28 after a layup by Tommy Pelczynski (Nashville, Ill./Nashville) at the 17:27 mark.

The Hawks continued to hold onto the advantage and led 50-42 before Khan hit a three-pointer out of the corner to cut the lead to five with 8:02 to play.  But after getting a stop on the defensive end, S&T turned the ball over on back-to-back possessions which led to layups at the other end by Robinson, giving the Hawks their largest lead of the second half of nine.

But a pair of three-pointers by Bryce Foster (Florissant, Mo./Hazelwood Central), the second with 5:33 to go, knocked the margin down to three and moments later after the five-minute media timeout, Foster made a steal and then scored on a put-back of his own miss to cut the lead to one.  Then with 3:47 left, Jackson would tie the score at 54 by making the second of two free throws.

McCann made one of two at the line with 3:47 to play to put Rockhurst up by a point, but with 2:51 left, Julian Johnson (St. Louis, Mo./Whitfield School) was fouled while going after a rebound and hit both free throws to give S&T its first lead of the second half at 56-55.

Jackson extended the lead with a pair of free throws at the 2:02 mark, but McCann drove to the basket and scored with 1:49 to play to make it a one-point lead again.  On S&T's next trip down the floor, the Hawks knocked the ball away momentarily, but Johnson picked up the loose ball and drove to the basket to extend the lead back to three at 60-57.

On a third opportunity for Rockhurst, McCann banked in a shot in the lane to cut the lead to one, then Johnson secured an offensive rebound on a missed shot by Carlton Westbrook (Centralia, Ill./Centralia) and made the first of two free throws.  But with 2.1 seconds left, freshman Liam Duffy knocked down a 17-foot jumper to tie the game and send it to overtime.

The Miners took charge early in the overtime period, getting their first seven points from Jackson including the last two at the free throw line to take a 68-66 lead with 3:01 to go.  Ten seconds later, Johnson made a steal near midcourt and hit a layup to put the Miners up by four.

After missing chance to extend the lead, the Hawks stole an inbounds pass and got a three-pointer from Russell Burns to draw to within one with 47 seconds to go.  After Westbrook came right back by driving to the basket and scoring with 33 seconds to play to push the Miner lead back to three again, Robinson drained a trey from the top of the key with 17 ticks on the clock to tie it again at 72.

The Miners set up for the final shot with 9.1 seconds to play and Westbrook drove into the lane, drawing a foul from McCann with four seconds to go.  Westbrook made the first free throw and missed the second, but after Burns got the rebound for the Hawks, he ran into his own man coming up the floor and lost control of the ball, preventing Rockhurst from getting a shot off before the buzzer sounded.

S&T got 20 points from Jackson and had three others in double figures, as Pelczynski and Johnson ended up with 13 apiece.  Foster added 11 for the Miners, who shot 56.5 percent in the second half and made three-of-four from the floor in overtime, finishing the night at 48 percent.

Rockhurst (7-17, 4-12 GLVC) had four in double figures as well, led by McCann with 17, as it finished with a shooting mark of 46.8 percent.

The Miners will wrap up their 2011-12 home schedule Saturday when they host William Jewell in a 5 p.m. game at Billy Key Court.  S&T's two seniors, Westbrook and Pelczynski, will be honored prior to Saturday's contest.