Box Score

ROLLA, Mo. – Bryce Foster (Florissant, Mo./Hazelwood Central) scored the 1,000^th point of his Missouri S&T career Saturday afternoon, but it was the 1,010^th point he scored that sparked a strong closing run for the Miners in a 65-52 win over William Jewell at Billy Key Court – a victory that secured S&T a spot in the Scheels Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament.

Foster, who became the 23^rd player in Miner history to reach the 1,000-point mark when he knocked down a jumper with under six minutes left in the first half, drilled a three-pointer with 4:45 to play to break a 46-all tie and sent the Miners on a 19-6 burst to finish out their fourth consecutive victory and sixth in GLVC play.

The victory clinched a spot in the 12-team field for the GLVC Tournament which begins Feb. 26 and marked the first time that the Miners have four consecutive games since the start of the 2003-04 season when they won their first six contests.  Prior to Saturday's win, the Miners had not captured four straight conference games since the final four league outings in their 1995-96 championship season as a member of the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association.

S&T did get out of the gate slowly on Saturday, failing to score before the first media timeout of the contest that came with 14:54 to play in the first half.  The Miners did get on the scoreboard out of the timeout on a basket by Carlton Westbrook (Centralia, Ill./Centralia), but fell behind by as many as seven points in the first half.

After catching the Cardinals at 15 on a basket by Julian Johnson (St. Louis, Mo./Whitfield School), William Jewell scored seven straight points to take another seven-point advantage.  S&T answered with a 10-2 run and took its first lead on a lay-in by Michael Jackson (Wichita, Kan./Wichita East) at the 4:14 mark.

The Miners would lead by a point at the half, then built the lead to seven by scoring the first six points of the second half, as Foster knocked down a three-pointer with 17:59 to go to put S&T up 35-28.

William Jewell began to claw back into the game and knotted the score on three different occasions, the last at 46 after Mark Mason streaked to the basket for a layup after a Miner turnover.  But on the Miners' next possession, Foster got free at the top of the key and knocked down the three-pointer that sent S&T on its way for the closing run.

After Jackson hit one of two at the line to extend the lead to four, Jewell's Nick Larson – who posted a double-double for the Cardinals with 26 points and 15 rebounds Saturday – scored on a layup with 3:58 left to cut the lead in half.  But S&T got a three-point play from Westbrook to put the lead back at five, then got it out to nine moments later after a baseline jumper by Tommy Pelczynski (Nashville, Ill./Nashville) with 1:42 to play.

The Miners held the Cardinals to 43.1 percent shooting for the evening and to just two field goals in 10 tries over the final 4:45 after taking the lead. The Cardinals did win the battle on the boards by a 30-27 mark for the game, but the teams were dead even in that category in the second half.

S&T shot 52.2 percent in the second half to finish the game at 47.9 percent and got a double-double from Foster with 20 points and 12 rebounds to lead the way, his second double-double in the last eight days.  Westbrook, who along with Pelczynski were playing in their final home game Saturday, added 18 points for S&T.

Mason was also in double figures for the Cardinals (7-16, 4-13 GLVC) with 10 points.

The Miners, 7-18 overall and 6-11 in GLVC play, will close out their regular season Thursday with a game at Drury University, with the tipoff slated for 8 p.m. at the O'Reilly Family Events Center in Springfield, Mo.