ROLLA, Mo. – After watching a 16-point lead early in the second half evaporate, Missouri S&T righted the ship and regained control of matters to come away with a 97-88 win over Culver-Stockton Saturday at Billy Key Court.

The Miners led by ten at halftime and then scored the first six points of the second half to take their largest lead of the contest at 58-42.  However, the Miners went cold against the nationally-ranked squad from the NAIA ranks, going without a field goal for over seven minutes to allow the Wildcats to erase the advantage.

Culver-Stockton used a 20-3 run to take its first lead since early in the contest with 11:27 to play on Amarpreet Randhawa's three-pointer.  S&T regained the lead on a basket by Michael Nesbitt (Evansville, Ind./LaLumiere School), only to see the Wildcats move back in front on a trey by Johnnie Mills 34 seconds later.

Missouri S&T tied the game back up on a lay-in by Danylo Zuikov (Kiev, Ukraine/LaLumiere School) that followed a steal by Juwan Miller (Kitchener, Ont./Huron Heights), then the Wildcats took what would be their final lead of the game when Christian Jones made the first of two free throws at the line with 9:01 to play.

Zach Ellis (St. Louis, Mo./Whitfield School) drained a three-pointer on the Miners' next trip down the floor, sparking an 11-0 over a span of two minutes to take a 76-66 lead.  Ellis scored the first five points on the run, while Nesbitt scored the final six with a pair of three-pointers.

The Miners would hold at least a seven-point lead for the duration of the contest.

S&T held as much as a 14-point lead in the opening half, rattling off eight straight points in the latter stages to take that advantage.  It would lead by ten at the half as it held the Wildcats to just 37.8 percent shooting from the field in the first 20 minutes.

Six players finished in double figures for the Miners, led by Nesbitt with 17 points; he also connected on three-of-four from three-point range as the Miners made six from beyond the arc.

Desmond Buerge (Carthage, Mo./Carthage) finished with 16 points, while Ellis and Miller had 13 apiece, Zuikov had 11 and Marcus Walden (Augusta, Ga./Academy of Richmond Co.) had a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.

The Miners outrebounded the Wildcats 50-38 and forced 25 Culver-Stockton turnovers as they improved to 2-1 on the year.

Culver-Stockton, the 24^th-ranked team in the NAIA ranks that was playing Saturday's game as an exhibition contest, had four in double figures that was paced by Jones' 12 points.

Missouri S&T will head to the road Tuesday to face Trevecca Nazarene in an 8 p.m. contest in Nashville, Tenn.