SAN ANTONIO, Texas – A cold start spelled doom for Missouri S&T Friday afternoon, as it dropped a 62-51 decision to host St. Mary's in the first of its two games in the Thanksgiving weekend event.

The Miners made just one of their first 17 shots in the game and finished the contest by making only 24.1 percent of their attempts.  As a result of the struggles from the field, S&T fell behind by 22 points in the first 13 minutes of play.

S&T was able to cut into that lead over the final eight minutes of the first half, making a 13-0 run after falling behind 27-5.  A three-point basket by Quinn Poythress (Jackson, Mo./Notre Dame Regional) at the 6:29 mark sparked the run, which included a trey by Danylo Zuikov (Kiev, Ukraine/LaLumiere School) and ended with a free throw by Zach Ellis (St. Louis, Mo./Whitfield School) with 2:38 to play in the half.

After the Rattlers got the lead back to 13, Rokas Paulauskas' lay-in near the end of the half got S&T back within 10 at the intermission.   B.J. McLaughlin (Florissant, Mo./Hazelwood Central)'s basket in the first minute of the second half cut the lead to eight – but the Miners and Rattlers essentially swapped baskets for a good portion of the second half as S&T could never get the margin inside of eight points.

Paulauskas hit two free throw with 5:24 remaining to cut the St. Mary's lead to 50-42, but the Rattlers ran off the next seven points to extend their lead to 15 and sent the Miners to their fourth loss in five outings.

Zuikov, making his first appearance on the floor since the season opener at Ashland, led the Miners with 12 points as he hit four of S&T's six three-pointers in the contest.  S&T also got eight from Poythress and seven from McLaughlin, but was unable to get much done offensively thanks in part to 13 blocked shots by the Rattlers.

Kriston Minor led St. Mary's (3-1) with 15 points, while Yanni Wetzell, a freshman from New Zealand added 12.  The Miners did force 18 Rattler turnovers, but were only able to turn them into 15 points at the other end.

Missouri S&T will face 13^th-ranked Angelo State in its second game of the weekend event Saturday at 12:45 p.m.