DURANT, Okla. – Another strong second half performance propelled Missouri S&T's men's basketball team to its fourth straight victory Wednesday night, as the Miners rallied to down Southeastern Oklahoma State 80-68 in their final game before the start of the Great Lakes Valley Conference season.

Down by four at the break, the Miners held the Savage Storm to 33.3 percent shooting in the second half – including no three-point baskets – and forced 11 turnovers to outscore the hosts 48-32.

S&T tied the contest at 39 on B.J. McLaughlin (Florissant, Mo./Hazelwood Central)'s lay-in at the 16:17 mark of the second half, then McLaughin drained a three-pointer on the Miners' next trip down the floor to put S&T in front for good as part of a seven-point run on his own part.

Starting with McLaughlin's trey, the Miners outscored the Savage Storm 16-4 over a span of four minutes to build an 11-point lead after Marcus Walden (Augusta, Ga./Academy of Richmond Co.) scored after a steal by Zach Ellis (St. Louis, Mo./Whitfield School).   S&T would eventually build the lead to as many as 18 after McLaughlin scored with 4:35 remaining.

At the start of the game, the Miners jumped out to an early seven-point lead, only to see the Savage Storm come back and take the lead on Pedro Faria's three-pointer at the 13:25 mark as part of an 11-0 run. 

S&T tied the score at 21 on Clement Bonardo (LaFarlede, France/Costebelle)'s three-point basket with 8:04 to go in the half, then took the lead back briefly when Ellis hit a pair of free throws a little over a minute later.  Southeastern regained the lead for good in the opening half on a trey by Sami Bzai at the 6:19 mark and would lead by four at the intermission.

The Miners made only 34.4 percent of their shots in the first, but connected on 51.4 percent in the second half and made five-of-11 from three-point range to finish at 43.3 percent overall.  Bonardo led five Miners in double figures with a season-high 15 points, while Walden had 14 points and McLaughlin finished with 13.  S&T also got 12 points apiece from Michael Nesbitt (Evansville, Ind./LaLumiere School) and Desmond Buerge (Carthage, Mo./Carthage).

Walden also had 10 rebounds to lead the Miners, recording his second double-double of the season, who finished even on the boards with the Savage Storm.

Danny Powell led all scorers with 21 points, but Southeastern (3-6) made only 36.5 percent of its shots in the contest and had 19 turnovers.  Ellis had four steals for the Miners while Juwan Miller (Kitchener, Ont./Huron Heights) finished with three.

The win improved the Miners to 5-1 on the year and gives them their best mark after six games of a season since they started 6-0 in the 2003-04 season.

Missouri S&T opens GLVC play Saturday when it hosts 14^th-ranked Drury – who is also 5-1 -- in a 7:30 p.m. contest at Billy Key Court.