Box Score QUINCY, Ill. – Missouri S&T nearly made up a 18-point deficit in the final 10 minutes of the second half Saturday afternoon, but the rally fell short as Quincy University escaped with a 71-66 win over S&T in Great Lakes Valley Conference play at Pepsi Arena.

The Hawks led 59-41 following a basket by Jens Kennedy with 10:23 to play and still led by 13 with 4:38 to go, but the Miners staged a huge rally

Down 65-52, Julian Johnson (St. Louis, Mo./Whitfield School) and Mudi Eruteya hit three-pointers to get the margin down to seven, then a dunk by Michael Jackson (Wichita, Kan./Wichita East) right after a steal by Eruteya made it 65-60 with 1:37 remaining.  Following an exchange of free throws by the two teams, the last by QU's Scott Hahn with 26 seconds to go that made it 69-64, the Miners cut the Quincy lead to three on a quick layup by Zach Ellis.

The Hawks committed a turnover on the inbounds pass to give the ball back to S&T with 20 seconds to play, but Eruteya drove to the basket and had a shot blocked by Dalton Hoover, squelching the Miners' opportunity to steal the contest in the final minute.

The first half was a back-and-forth affair for the first 13 minutes, as the lead changed hands on three occasions and was tied twice.  S&T had a three-point lead of following a pair of free throws by Michael Nesbitt (Evansville, Ind./LaLumiere School) at the 7:12 mark, but the Hawks embarked on an 8-0 run that gave them a five-point lead by the five-minute mark.

Quincy finished the first half by outscoring S&T 16-2 after the Miners had taken that three-point lead, holding a 35-24 advantage at the intermission.

The Hawks kept the lead in double figures during the majority of the second half, going up by 16 by the 16:36 mark and building it to its largest margin at 18 just short of the midway point of the period.  Nesbitt, who led the Miners with 18 points, sparked the comeback effort with a pair of three-pointers and had seven points during the initial stages of the run.

Three other Miners joined Nesbitt in double figures as Eruteya finished with 15 points, Nusrath Khan (Morton Grove, Ill./Maine East) with 11 and Ellis with 10.  The Miners shot 48 percent from the field in the second half as they finished the day at 45.2 percent, while the Hawks (11-12, 6-9 GLVC) ended up at 49 percent in the game.

Hoover led four Hawks in double figures with 21 points.

The Miners, who dropped to 6-16 overall and 2-13 in the GLVC, will host Rockhurst Thursday in a 7:30 p.m. game at Billy Key Court.