Box Score ROLLA, Mo. – Making a number of big plays down the stretch, Missouri S&T's men's basketball team overcame a 10-point deficit in the second half to pull out an 85-79 victory over Missouri-St. Louis Saturday at Billy Key Court, extending its winning to four games in the process.

The victory, which completed a sweep of the Miners' four-game homestand, pushed the Miners above the .500 mark at 9-8 overall and to 4-5 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference. It marks the first time since the 2004-05 season that S&T has been above .500 at the 17-game mark of the season.

The Miners appeared to be in trouble, however, when Tylor Wimbish scored with 9:32 to play to give UMSL a 66-56 lead. But after baskets by Bryce Foster (Florissant, Mo./Hazelwood Central) and Zachary Ellis (St. Louis, Mo./Whitfield School) got S&T to within six, Mudiaga Eruteya (Chicago, Ill./Notre Dame) made a steal along the sideline and went in for a dunk to draw the Miners to within four.

UMSL got its advantage back to seven on Femi John's three-pointer with 5:31 to play, but a 7-0 burst by the Miners gave them the lead for the first time since the 11:31 mark of the first half. The Miners tied the score on a driving lay-up by Foster, then Eruteya made a steal and led Ellis for a lay-up 21 seconds later to put them in front.

Following a Triton timeout, Wimbish scored off the inbounds pass to knot the score at 75, but Eruteya drew a foul -- the fifth on John – and made a pair at the line with 2:04 left to get the Miners back into the lead. Eruteya hit two more at the line after UMSL's Jordan Shanklin missed a three-pointer to give S&T a four-point advantage.

Wimbish scored again with 1:04 to go to bring the Tritons back to within two, but on the Miners' next trip down the floor, Foster got the offensive rebound off an Eruteya miss and scored with 39 seconds left to give the Miners an 81-77 lead.

Nusrath Khan (Morton Grove, Ill./Maine East) answered two Wimbish free throws by making a pair at the line with 25 seconds to go, then the Miners got two defensive stops – the last on a steal by Ellis in the final seconds – to ice the victory.

In the first half, the Miners struggled from the floor as they shot just 36.4 percent and trailed 40-36 at the break. S&T was able to get to within one by the 14:51 mark before UMSL went on a 13-4 run that gave it the 10-point lead, but the Miners outscored the Tritons 19-6 over the final 5:31 to get the victory.

Eruteya led all scorers in the game with 27 points and recorded his third double-double of the season as he added 10 rebounds. His three double-doubles this season have all come in conjunction with one recorded by Foster, as he posted 21 points and 13 boards; the Miners outrebounded the Tritons 42-32 on the day.

S&T, which shot 57.7 percent in the second half and finished the afternoon at 45.8 percent, also got 11 points from Khan and 10 from Ellis.

UMSL got 26 points from Wimbish and 21 from John as it fell to 10-7 and 4-5 in the GLVC. The Tritons entered the game ranked second in the conference in three-point shooting at 41.7 percent, but were held to a five-of-23 afternoon from long range.

With the homestand behind them, the Miners will open a four-game stretch away from home Thursday against another hot team in the GLVC, Truman State, who won its sixth straight game Saturday with a 67-52 win at William Jewell. Game time is at 7:30 p.m. in Kirksville, Mo.