ROLLA, Mo. – After surrendering a sizeable advantage it built in the first half, Missouri S&T regrouped and pulled away from Blackburn in the final 15 minutes to pick up its third straight win Tuesday night with a 104-91 non-conference victory at Billy Key Court.

The Miners got out of the gate quickly, building an 11-point lead after a little over five minutes had been played and by 16 at the 13:45 mark of the first half as they made nine of their first 12 shots from the field. S&T's lead would eventually reach 19 after a steal and lay-in by Juwan Miller (Kitchener, Ont./Huron Heights) at the 9:51 mark.

S&T would maintain a lead of at least 12 points for the balance of the first half and led 51-38 at the break, but after getting a layup by Rokas Paulauskas (Talsiai, Lithuania/Hamilton Heights Acad.) on the first possession of the second half, the Miners watched the Beavers speed up the tempo and go on a sudden 18-2 burst to take the lead.

Beginning with a Chris Davis three-pointer, the Beavers wiped out S&T's 15-point advantage in just under four minutes, moving in front on a three-point play by DeAndre Manuel with 16:02 to go.  The Miners regained the lead on a three-point play by Tyler Anderson (Lee's Summit, Mo./Lee's Summit North) on their next trip down the floor, then after Blackburn tied it back up on a basket by Manuel, Zach Ellis (St. Louis, Mo./Whitfield School) hit two free throws that ended up putting the Miners up to stay.

Free throw shooting – particularly in the second half – became a big part of the story as the Miners went 38-of-39 at the line for the game and hit all 26 of their attempts in the second half.  S&T hit its final 33 free throws in the game.

The Miners got their lead back into double figures when Desmond Buerge (Carthage, Mo./Carthage) hit two at the line at the 11:58 mark as part of a 15-3 spurt that eventually put the lead back to 17 with 9:16 remaining.  Blackburn only got the lead under 10 twice in the final nine minutes, only to see S&T extend it to as many as 16 down the stretch.

Six players scored in double figures for the Miners (4-5), led by Quinn Poythress (Jackson, Mo./Notre Dame Regional) with a career-high 21 points and Ellis with 20.  S&T also got 19 points, five assists and four steals from Miller, while Buerge finished with 12 and Telloy Simon (Kitchener, Ont./St. Mary's) and Anderson had 10 points apiece.  For Anderson, it was the first double figure game of his career.

The Miners shot a season-best 46.3 percent from the field.

Davis led the Beavers (1-7) with 21 points, while Manuel and Jamie Moore added 18.  Blackburn hit 51.4 percent of its shots on the night and went nine-of-19 from three-point range.  S&T did force the Beavers into 22 turnovers and converted 25 points off of them.

Missouri S&T returns to Great Lakes Valley Conference play Saturday when it hosts West Division co-leader Drury in a 3 p.m. game at Billy Key Court.  The Miners and Panthers currently share the division lead with Quincy, as all three teams went 2-0 in the opening weekend of conference play.