LIBERTY, Mo. – Missouri S&T's men's basketball team overcame one William Jewell run in the first half, but a second spurt by the Cardinals put the hosts into the lead for good as Jewell handed the Miners a 91-72 loss Thursday night in Great Lakes Valley Conference play.

William Jewell (17-5, 7-5 GLVC) raced out to a 17-5 lead to start the game, but the Miners (2-18, 0-12 GLVC) clawed back and took their first lead on a lay-in by Romain Louiserre (La Ferte Alais, France/Fredrick Fays) at the 7:18 mark.  The teams swapped the advantage for the next minute, with the Miners taking a 31-30 lead on a Chris Harris (Antioch, IL/Lake Forest Academy) jumper with 5:59 to play in the half, but the Cardinals outscored S&T 20-5 to close the opening half with a 50-36 lead.

The Miners, who shot 48.1 percent in the second half after making only 32.6 percent of their attempts in the first 20 minutes, trimmed the Cardinal lead to 11 at 56-45 early in the second half on a three-pointer by Allante Pickens (Chicago, IL/Curie), but could never get the margin below that point throughout the half.

S&T had the lead down to 11 at 58-47 following two Ervin Sarajlic (St. Louis, MO/Oakville) free throws with 14:36 to play and again at 60-49 and later at 66-55 when Romain Louiserre (La Ferte Alais, France/Fredrick Fays) hit a pair at the line with just under 10 minutes remaining, but the Cardinals bumped the lead up and eventually had it to as much as 21 later in the second half.

Louiserre and Sarajlic both recorded double-doubles for S&T, as Louiserre finished with 16 points and 12 rebounds for his sixth double-double of the year and Sarajlic has 11 points to go with his 11 boards to record his second double-double this season.

The Miners had five players in double figures Thursday, as Chris Harris (Antioch, IL/Lake Forest Academy) had 22 points to lead the way.  S&T also got 11 points from Pickens and 10 from Dulan Scott (Chicago, IL/Farragut Academy).

Pharroh Gordon scored a career-high 28 points for Jewell to lead all scorers in the contest.

The Miners will host Drury Saturday in a 7:30 p.m. game at Billy Key Court.