ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T's men's basketball team held a lead in the final minute of play Saturday against Illinois Springfield, but was unable to hang on as the Prairie Stars came away with an 82-78 win in the Great Lakes Valley Conference opener for both teams at Billy Key Court.

Vince Walker drained a three-point shot – after the Miners were unable to come up with a rebound on an initial miss by UIS – with 38 seconds remaining to put the Prairie Stars back into the lead for good and a Miner turnover on their next possession allowed UIS to seal the contest at the free throw line in the final seconds.

The Prairie Stars (6-2, 1-0 GLVC) led for much of the game, although the Miners (1-5, 0-1 GLVC) did hold a pair of leads early in the contest.  S&T took a 4-2 advantage on two Dulan Scott (Chicago, IL/Farragut Academy) free throws just over a minute into play and after the Prairie Stars took the lead on a Lijah Donnelly three-pointer and held it for most of the next 10 minutes, S&T got the scoreboard back in its favor following a three-pointer by Ervin Sarajlic (St. Louis, MO/Oakville) at the 8:37 that gave S&T a 25-23 lead.

The Miners took their final lead of the opening half on a basket by Sarajlic with 5:37 to go in the half, but UIS ran off nine of the next 11 points to take a six-point lead.  The Prairie Star lead would grow to nine by halftime after Eddie Longmeyer's three-pointer just before the period ended.

UIS maintained the lead throughout the second half, although the Miners closed the margin down to one with 8:46 to play after Romain Louiserre (La Ferte Alais, France/Fredrick Fays) hit a pair of free throws.  However, the Prairie Stars held onto and added to their advantage and appeared to put S&T into a tough spot after Donnelly's basket with 4:19 left that put UIS up 73-64.

Louiserre answered with a conventional three-point play at the other end on the Miners' next trip down the floor, sparking a 12-2 burst – one where Louiserre accounted for 10 of the points – that led to S&T taking its first lead of the half.

His three-pointer at the 2:18 mark cut a six-point UIS lead in half, then he hit two free throws on each of the Miners' next two possessions, the latter two with 53 seconds remaining that gave S&T a 76-75 lead.

After getting the lead, the Miners forced a miss by Donnelly in the lane, but Donnelly got his own rebound and kicked it back out to Walker beyond the three-point line, where he faked a shot and fired in a trey that gave UIS the lead back.

The Miners' ensuing possession, however, ended in a turnover as Longmeyer knocked a pass off a Miner player to give the ball to the Prairie Stars.  Walker and Logan Gonce iced the win by hitting two free throws apiece in the final 10 seconds around a Scott basket.

Louiserre scored 20 of his career-high 24 points in the second half to lead four Miners in double figures, as S&T also got 17 points from Sarajlic, 15 from Scott and 13 from Chris Harris (Antioch, IL/Lake Forest Academy).  S&T shot 52.6 percent in the second half and finished at the 50 percent mark for the contest, marking the first time the Miners had reached the 50 percent mark in a game this season.

Walker had six three-pointers and 20 points to lead UIS, who was held to 44.3 percent shooting but connected 12 times from beyond the arc and outrebounded S&T 34-29.

Missouri S&T will return to action Thursday when it faces Maryville in a 7:30 p.m. contest in St. Louis.