SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – A cold shooting stretch by Missouri S&T put it into a hole it couldn't escape from in the second half Saturday, as Illinois Springfield handed the Miners a 78-74 loss in Great Lakes Valley Conference play.

S&T shot only 45.2 percent from the floor after a strong start to the contest and remained among a pack of teams scrambling to land one of the last spots in the field for the GLVC Tournament.

The Miners came out of the gate well, jumping out to an 11-3 lead following a jumper by Quinn Poythress (Jackson, Mo./Notre Dame Regional) at the 15:32 mark.  S&T maintained the advantage throughout much of the first half and had a 10-point lead midway through it after Zach Ellis (St. Louis, Mo./Whitfield School) hit a pair of free throws.

However, the Miners began going cold from the floor as the half progressed and Jamall Millison became a big factor in the Prairie Stars' rally, scoring 11 straight in one stretch as UIS overcame the deficit.

The Prairie Stars grabbed the lead at 31-30 following a basket by Logan Gonce with 3:40 to play in the half and took a 40-35 lead to the break.

S&T made nine of its first 12 shots of the game, but hit only four of its last 13 in the first half.

UIS extended the lead to nine before the Miners got a fast break basket from Zach Ellis (St. Louis, Mo./Whitfield School) and a three-pointer by B.J. McLaughlin (Florissant, Mo./Hazelwood Central) to trim it to four by the 12:22 mark, but as fast as S&T got the lead down , the Prairie Stars made an 8-0 run to go up 61-49 by the midway point of the second half.

With 7:23 left, the Miners trailed by 11 following a free throw by Davi Austin that came after a lengthy review following a foul call – and suddenly the Miners picked up the pace.

Desmond Buerge (Carthage, Mo./Carthage), who was called for the foul that led to Austin's free throw, made a steal and scored on a conventional three-point play on the ensuing UIS possession, then made one of two at the line after another S&T stop to cut the lead to seven.

S&T got it down to six following a pull-up jumper in the lane by Danylo Zuikov (Kiev, Ukraine/LaLumiere School), but the run stalled at that point as UIS was able to get the lead back to nine moments later.

The Miners got as close as five in the final minute, but UIS held off S&T at the free throw line to drop the Miners to 4-11 in the GLVC and 8-16 overall.

Simon led the Miners with a career-high 20 points, while Ellis also reached double figures with 13, including his 1,000^th career point in the process, making him the 24^th player in school history with 1,000 career points.

Millison finished with 20 for the Prairie Stars (10-15, 4-11 GLVC), who shot 56.3 percent from the field and made eight of their 15 three-point shots on the afternoon.  UIS had four players in double figures Saturday.

The Miners return to action Thursday when they close their home schedule against Missouri-St. Louis at 7:30 p.m.