KIRKSVILLE, Mo. – After watching Truman State erase a 19-point lead in the second half, Missouri S&T regrouped and went on a finishing spurt of its own to knock off the Great Lakes Valley Conference's West Division leaders 96-91 Saturday afternoon in Pershing Arena.

S&T led by 13 at halftime and extended the margin to 19 at 60-41 in the first five minutes of the second half before the Bulldogs, behind Dwight Sistrunk, outscored the Miners 25-6 over the next six-plus minutes to tie the score.  Sistrunk, who had only two points at halftime, scored eight of his 17 second half points during the run, including the game-tying basket with 6:42 to play.

But on the Miners' next trip down the floor, Telloy Simon (Kitchener, Ont./St. Mary's) hit a basket in the lane to put S&T back in front – this time for good.  Simon's basket started a 6-0 run, but the Bulldogs had two opportunities to tie the game a short time later and missed free throws that would have completed a three-point play.

Up 74-73, the Miners would get two free throws from Randy Holmes (St. Louis, MO/Soldan International Studies) to extend the lead back to three and Truman would not get any closer for the duration of the contest as S&T scored 18 of its final 22 points at the free throw line.

The Miners were 24-of-28 at the free throw line in the second half and outscored the Bulldogs 29-6 at the charity stripe in the contest.

S&T used a 7-0 run early in the first half to take an advantage it would end up holding until Truman tied the game in the second half and was able to add onto it through the shooting of Erviin Sarajlic and Telloy Simon (Kitchener, Ont./St. Mary's).  The duo combined to hit five of S&T's eight three-pointers in the first half, including one by Sarajlic with 9:05 to play in the period to give the Miners a 10-point lead.

The Miners closed the first half by outscoring the Bulldogs 10-2 to take a 13-point lead to the locker room, then pushed the margin out to 19 by the 16:17 mark when Simon – who led five S&T players in double figures with 22 points – sunk two free throws.

Juwan Miller (Kitchener, Ont./Huron Heights) had 18 points for the Miners, while Jalen Myers (Shorewood, IL/Minooka) finished with 17 and Holmes with 16; Holmes recorded a double-double as he pulled down 11 rebounds as did Simon with his 12 rebounds.  The fifth Miner in double figures was Sarajlic, who was four-of-seven from three-point range.

The Miners (9-9, 3-8 GLVC) shot 46.8 percent in the game and was nine-of-26 from three-point range, while outrebounding the Bulldogs (16-5, 8-3 GLVC) 48-31.

Jake Velky had 24 points to lead Truman, who entered the game as the top three-point shooting team in NCAA Division II and made 13-of-35 in the game.  Velky was seven-of-14 from long range, but Nathan Messer, who had made nearly 50 percent of his long-range attempts on the year, was held to one-of-eight from beyond the arc.

Missouri S&T will remain on the road next week, beginning with Thursday's 7:30 p.m. contest against Southern Indiana in Evansville, Ind.  The Screaming Eagles, ranked 12^th in this week's NABC/Division II poll, suffered their second loss of the season Saturday in an 81-66 setback at Indianapolis.