KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Missouri S&T hung in with UMKC for the better part of the first half of Saturday's exhibition contest, but the Kangaroos took advantage of the Miners' shooting struggles and came away with a 79-55 win at Municipal Auditorium.

After falling behind 7-0 to start the game, the Miners went on 10-0 run to take the lead in the early going.  Jalen Myers (Shorewood, IL/Minooka) scored the first seven points of the run, then Ervin Sarajlic (St. Louis, Mo./Oakville) gave S&T the lead with a three-pointer at the 14:57 mark.

S&T held the Kangaroos without a point after their early spurt for better than four and a half minutes, but UMKC was able to regain the lead on Xavier Bishop's put-back with 12:03 remaining in the half.

The Miners were within three at 20-17 following a Myers basket with 4:43 to go, but were outscored 18-2 over the balance of the half to trail 38-19 in a half where they shot just 22.6 percent from the field.

UMKC would extend the lead to as much as 24 early in the second half before the Miners got it down to 13 following a pair of Danylo Zuikov (Kiev, Ukraine/LaLumiere School) free throws with 9:14 remaining.   However, the Kangaroos answered that run by pushing their advantage out to as many as 27 in the final moments.

Rokas Paulauskas (Talsiai, Lithuania/Hamilton Heights Acad.) recorded a double-double for the Miners with 12 points and 10 rebounds; he was the only Miner to score in double figures Saturday.  S&T also got nine points from Myers and eight from Telloy Simon (Kitchener, Ont./St. Mary's), but shot just 26.1 percent as a team and only five-of-23 from three-point range.

UMKC, who got a game-high 14 points from Martez Harrison, shot 56.3 percent in the second half and finished the day at 45.7 percent.  The Miners did hold a 50-49 edge on the boards over the Kangaroos 50-49, but were guilty of 23 turnovers.

The Miners will play their second exhibition game Monday when they face Southeast Missouri State at 6:30 p.m. in Cape Girardeau, Mo.