ROLLA, Mo. – It was a tale of two halves for Missouri S&T's men's basketball team Wednesday night in its season opener, but an improved second half was not enough to overcome a ragged opening 20 minutes as the Miners fell 66-55 to Lincoln at Gibson Arena.

The Miners had an improved shooting performance and committed only one turnover after the intermission, outrebounded the Blue Tigers and held them without a three-point basket in that span.  However, even after cutting a 21-point deficit down to a one-possession game, it couldn't make up the difference from the first half when S&T shot just 24.1 percent from the field and went just 2-of-17 from beyond the three-point line.

Lincoln (2-1) never trailed in the contest, scoring the first six points and building a 10-point lead by the 11:51 mark of the opening half.  The Blue Tigers would extend that advantage to 18 with under six minutes to play in the half as the Miners made just three of their first 18 shots from the floor.

The Blue Tigers scored the final six points of the half to take an 18-point lead to the locker room, then extended it to 21 early in the second half following a three-point play by Cameron Potts before S&T started chipping away at the margin.

A lay-in by Chima Oduocha (Hoffman Estates, IL/Conant) started a 9-0 run for the Miners that trimmed the lead to 42-30, then S&T got the margin into single digits on another basket by Oduocha with 12:02 to play.  Lincoln would extend its lead back to eight with 7:45 remaining, but the Miners outscored Lincoln 8-2 over the next 3:28 to get to within two.

Mitch Fairless (St. Charles, MO/Duchesne) scored with 5:54 to play to cut the Lincoln lead to 49-47, then Oduocha hit a pair of free throws to counter a Jonell Burton basket to bring the lead down to two again.  Lincoln extended the lead back to six before a Jordan Newt (San Francisco, CA/Malibu) three-pointer cut that margin in half, but the Miners managed just one basket – a final minute three-pointer by Yahmir Muhammad (Rockford, IL/Auburn) – over the final 3:15 as Lincoln outscored S&T 11-3 down the stretch.

Oduocha and Muhammad had 16 points apiece to lead S&T, while CJ Hedgepeth (Evansville, IN/Harrison) also ended up in double figures with 13.  The Miners shot only 31.3 percent for the game to Lincoln's 49.1 percent mark, but held the Blue Tigers to just 3-of-16 overall from three-point range.

S&T had just eight turnovers in the contest but was outrebounded 43-39; Oduocha finished with nine to lead S&T in that department.

Burton led the Blue Tigers with 17 points as four Lincoln players ended up in double figures and accounted for 54 of the team's 66 points.

The Miners return to action Sunday when they take on Missouri Western in a 4 p.m. contest in St. Joseph, Mo.