SPRINGFIELD, Mo.  – Missouri S&T's furious rally effort in the final seven minutes came up just short, as Upper Iowa held off the Miners 91-87 on the second day of the Doubletree/Houlihan's Thanksgiving Classic at Drury University.

The Miners (2-4) trailed by 16 points with 7:31 remaining, but hit six of their next 10 shots – including four three-pointers – to cut the Peacock lead to two with 2:36 remaining.  Jordan Newt (San Francisco, CA/Malibu) had a big hand in the rally, scoring 12 of S&T's 21 points during that stretch, which saw S&T bring the score to 80-78 following a three-pointer by Ervin Sarajlic (St. Louis, MO/Oakville).

However, Upper Iowa's Chris Olson drained a trey on the Peacocks' next trip down the floor to extend the lead back to five, then after Sarajlic hit another three to make it a two-point game again, Jareese Williams hit Upper Iowa's 17^th three-point basket of the game with 1:42 remaining to push the lead back to five again.

The Miners were able to make it a one-possession game twice in the final 40 seconds, but Quentin Blaue made three-of-four at the free throw line to hold off the Miners' final push.

Both teams got off to a slow start – going a combined two-of-16 from the field before the first media timeout at the 15:22 mark – but the Peacocks began to get rolling from long range a short time after play resumed.  After S&T got tow within a point at 16-15 on a lay-in by Nikola Andric (Uzice, Serbia/Gymnasium), the Peacocks went on a 9-0 run that began with a Olson three-pointer to build a 10-point advantage midway through the half.

The Miners trimmed that lead to four, but Upper Iowa (3-2) outscored S&T 14-4 over the next 4:35, a run that included four of the Peacocks' 10 three-point baskets in the first half.

Upper Iowa went 10-of-22 in the first half from beyond the arc, a continuation from Friday's win over Drury when it made 18 three-point shots and would hold a 46-34 lead at halftime.

Newt had 20 points to lead five Miners in double figures, as Sarajlic and Romain Louiserre (La Ferte Alais, France/Fredrick Fays) had 12 apiece, CJ Hedgepeth (Evansville, IN/Harrison) ended up with 11 and Kyle Bushman (Mount Vernon, MO/Mount Vernon) finished with 10.  Louiserre had his eighth career double-double and first by a Miner this season as he hauled in 12 rebounds, while Miller had a career-high 13 boards in a game where S&T outrebounded the Peacocks 53-31.

The Miners shot 45.9 percent in the second half and made seven-of-12 from three-point land in the second half to finish the game at 39.7 percent overall and at 10-of-26 from long range.  Upper Iowa made 48.3 percent of its shots and was 44.7 percent of its three-point tries.

Olson led all scorers in the contest with 22 points.

Missouri S&T returns to action Tuesday when it faces Southeast Missouri State in an exhibition game at 6:30 p.m. in Cape Girardeau, Mo.