EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – A sluggish first half put Missouri S&T into a hole it couldn't escape from Wednesday night as the Miners dropped an exhibition contest to Southern Illinois Edwardsville by the score of 85-67 at the Vadalabene Center.

The Cougars, who came into the game having made just 31 percent of their three-point attempts on the season, hit treys on each of their first three possessions as they built an early 10-point lead.

S&T was able to cut the margin down to five at 16-11 on a lay-in by Telloy Simon (Kitchener, Ont./St. Mary's) at the 10:38 mark and again moments later on another basket by Simon, but SIUE was able to get the lead back into double figures shortly after that and before the half ended, had it to its largest margin of 19 after Burak Eslik – who had 20 of his game-high 30 points in the first half – drained a pair of three-pointers in the final minute of the period.

The Miners shot just 28.6 percent from the field in the first half to 55.2 percent for the Cougars.

SIUE had its lead to as much as 21 early in the second half before the Miners went on a quick 7-0 run to get the margin down to 14.  The Miners had the lead down to 13 on four different occasions in the second half and had chances to get closer, but were unable to trim the lead any farther.

S&T had three players in double figures, led by Simon with 16 points, while Randy Holmes (St. Louis, MO/Soldan International Studies) and Quinn Poythress (Jackson, Mo./Notre Dame Regional) had 12 apiece.  The Miners (7-2), however, finished the night shooting just 32.8 percent from the floor.

Jalen Henry added 20 points for the Cougars (5-9), while Carlos Anderson scored 16 and Christian Ellis 10.

The Miners will return to their regular season schedule Saturday when they face Arkansas Tech in a 1 p.m. contest in Russellville, Ark.