Box Score LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Missouri S&T overcame an 11-point deficit in the first half to take a lead over second-ranked Bellarmine early in the second half, but the Knights rebounded to take the lead back and never surrendered it again as they held off a game Miner squad 89-79 Saturday afternoon in Great Lakes Valley Conference play.

The Miners fell behind right out of the gate, as the Knights scored on each of their first four possession to take a quick 10-0 lead.  The lead would reach 11 before S&T began cutting into the lead over the course of the first half.

The initial Bellarmine lead was trimmed to four after a basket by Bryce Foster (Florissant, Mo./Hazelwood Central) at the 12:56 mark, then the Miners erased an eight-point Knight lead with an 11-2 run to take their first lead on a three-pointer by Michael Nesbitt (Evansville, Ind./LaLumiere School) with 1:33 to play in the opening half.

Donnie Hale hit two free throws 17 seconds later to give Bellarmine a 37-36 lead it would take to the intermission, but the Miners came out flying to start the second half by scoring eight of the first 11 points to grab a 44-40 lead in the first two minutes.

Nesbitt knocked down another three-pointer at the start of the second half to put S&T back into the lead, then Aaron Emmanuel (Brampton, Ont./LaLumiere School) scored on a fast-break lay-in to extend the lead to four.  Corbin Maynard hit a three-pointer to cut the Miners' lead to one, but Foster answered with a trey on S&T's next possession to put the lead back at four again.

However, Bellarmine answered with a 7-0 run, taking the lead on Rusty Troutman's three-pointer with 16:33 to play to put the Knights back in front.

The Miners continued to make runs at the Knight lead, cutting it to one on two occasions before Bellarmine extended it back to eight on a three-point play by Keisten Jones at the 11:29 mark.  But Mudiaga Eruteya (Chicago, Ill./Notre Dame) scored five of the Miners' next seven points, bringing S&T back to within three at 62-59 by the midway point of the first half.

After the field goal by Eruteya that made it a three-point contest, the Knights ran off nine of the next 10 points to take an 11-point lead with 7:30 to go on Jones' backdoor layup.

But the Miners wouldn't go away, cutting the lead back down to three when Eruteya hit a pair of free throws at the 4:57 mark.  S&T then forced a Knight turnover, but Nusrath Khan (Morton Grove, Ill./Maine East) was denied at the basket with a chance to make it a one-point game and Josh Derksen scored at the other end to push Bellarmine's lead to five.

Eruteya would make two of three at the line on the Miners' next trip down the floor, but the Knights got a lay-in by Suggs and two free throws from Maynard to give them a seven-point lead; they would hold at least a two-possession lead for the balance of the contest.

Foster, Eruteya and Khan combined to score 61 of the Miners' 79 points, as Foster and Eruteya had 23 apiece to lead all scorers and Khan finished with 15.  Foster's 23 points allowed him to move into seventh place on the Miners' all-time scoring list with 1,369 points.

The Miners made 23-of-27 at the free throw line and turned the ball over only 10 times, but shot just 39.7 percent from the floor while the Knights (12-0, 4-0 GLVC) hit 65.3 percent of their shots on the day, including 75 percent in the second half.

Jake Thelen, who entered the game shooting 77.8 percent from the field, made all seven of his field goal attempts and all eight tries at the line to lead Bellarmine with 22 points.

The Miners (5-8, 0-5 GLVC) will open a four-game homestand Thursday when they host William Jewell in a 7:30 p.m. game at Billy Key Court.