ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T picked up the pace late in the first half, then came alive after the intermission in its first game back from the holiday break to knock off Principia 97-70 Thursday afternoon at Billy Key Court.

The win was the sixth in succession for the Miners – matching their longest winning streak in 12 seasons – completing a perfect month of December in the process as S&T improved its record to 7-5 heading into the return to Great Lakes Valley Conference play next Thursday at Wisconsin-Parkside.

The visiting Panthers hung with the Miners for most of the first 15 minutes, holding leads at various points and trailing only by four at the 5:21 mark following a lay-in by Adaku Amunu.  S&T answered with a basket from B.J. McLaughlin (Florissant, Mo./Hazelwood Central), who had a huge first half on his way to a game-high 25 points, on its next possession that sparked a 9-1 spurt that gave the Miners a 12-point lead.

S&T ended the half by scoring the final seven points, the last a jumper at the buzzer by Juwan Miller (Kitchener, Ont./Huron Heights), to take a 16-point lead to the locker room.

McLaughlin had 23 of the Miners' 48 points in the opening half, hitting 10-of-11 from the field while the rest of the Miners were just nine-of-27.  That all changed in the second half, as more S&T players got into the flow of the offense and McLaughlin took only one shot – a made jumper two minutes into the period.

The Miners went 19-of-32 from the floor in the final 20 minutes and got balanced scoring as 10 different players put points on the board.

S&T's advantage – which remained in double figures throughout the second half – grew to 20 by the 13:07 mark after a three-pointer by Zach Ellis (St. Louis, Mo./Whitfield School) and to as much as 34 in the final minutes.  In one stretch midway through the half, S&T outscored the Panthers 14-4 and had another 14-4 burst later in the half that brought about the 34-point margin.

Along with McLaughlin's 25 points, the Miners also got 14 from Ellis, 13 from Quinn Poythress (Jackson, Mo./Notre Dame Regional) and 10 from Telloy Simon (Kitchener, Ont./St. Mary's) as they shot a season-best 54.3 percent from the field on the afternoon.  S&T also got 13 assists from their point guards Miller and Allen Billinger (Carbondale, Ill./Carbondale), while Simon made four of the Miners' 14 steals.

Missouri S&T forced Principia into 21 turnovers and had only six itself in the contest.

Principia got all 70 of its points from four of its starters, led by Amunu's 23 and Justin Ball's 20.  Parker Davidson also had 19 for the Panthers (3-5).

Thursday's win allowed S&T to complete December with a 6-0 record, marking only the second time in school history that the Miners finished a month without a loss and a minimum of five wins.  The Miners also pulled off the feat when they went 5-0 in November of 1996.

S&T, the current leader in the GLVC's West Division, will seek its seventh win in a row when it faces Wisconsin-Parkside next Thursday at 7:30 p.m. in Kenosha, Wis.  The Rangers are 7-2 on the season heading into a home game Saturday against Indiana University-Northwest.