ROLLA, Mo. – After letting a 19-point first half lead dwindle down to a one-possession game, Missouri S&T's men's basketball team got matters back on track in the second half and pulled away for a 98-76 victory over William Woods at Billy Key Court.

The victory was the seventh in nine games for the Miners on the season, giving S&T seven wins before the start of a new calendar year for the first time in over a decade.  It came after the Miners saw their big early lead get cut to three shortly after the intermission before they finally pulled away for the win.

S&T held the Owls (4-9) to just a three-point basket over the first eight minutes of the contest, building a 22-3 lead by the 12:39 mark in the first half.  The Miners were able to maintain that double-digit for nearly the balance of the half, still holding a 17-point advantage after Juwan Miller (Kitchener, Ont./Huron Heights)'s basket with 5:46 to play.

However, the Owls outscored S&T 12-4 to finish the half and got a buzzer-beating three-point basket from Ryan Hill to get to within seven by the intermission.  William Woods kept that momentum into the early stages of the second half and closed to within three on back-to-back three-pointers by Nate Bitner, the latter coming 2:19 into play after the break.

The Miners led by four after a free throw by Bitner with 16:22 to go, then went on a quick 8-0 run to get the lead back into double figures.  Miller scored five of those points during the run, closing it with a traditional three-point play to give the Miners a 52-40 lead.

S&T continued to expand the margin over the next five minutes, taking its largest lead at 72-46 with 10:11 remaining on two free throws by Desmond Buerge (Carthage, Mo./Carthage).   William Woods was only able to get as close as 15 from that point forward.

Miller led a contingent of four Miners in double figures with a career-high 20 points, while adding eight assists and five steals.  S&T also got 15 points from Zach Ellis (St. Louis, Mo./Whitfield School), a season-high 14 from Curtis Okafor (Kansas City, Mo./Bishop Miege) and 10 from Clement Bonardo (LaFarlede, France/Costebelle).

The Miners forced William Woods into 36 turnovers in the contest – the teams combined for 59 in a game that also saw 62 fouls called – and finished with 19 steals.  Buerge had five steals and Okafor had three for S&T.

Hill led William Woods with 15 points as four Owls also scored in double figures.

Missouri S&T returns to Great Lakes Valley Conference play Friday when it heads to Rensselaer, Ind., to meet Saint Joseph's College in a 7:30 p.m. game.  The Miners will also take on seventh-ranked Indianapolis Sunday to close out the weekend road trip.