TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – Teams facing a 21-point deficit against a nationally-ranked team on the road seldom come away with a victory – but that's what Missouri S&T's men's basketball team was able to pull off Tuesday night, as it used a hot-shooting second half to overcome that sizeable deficit to pull out a 76-75 win over 24^th-ranked Northeastern State.

CJ Hedgepeth (Evansville, IN/Harrison) hit the Miners' 10^th three-point basket of the second half – and 13^th overall – with 3.2 seconds remaining to give S&T the one-point lead that it maintained after a half-court shot by the RiverHawks was off the mark as time expired.

The victory, which improved the Miners to 3-4 on the season, was their first over a top-25 team since beating Wisconsin-Parkside on Feb. 15, 2014 and first over a ranked team away from home since posting a 62-55 victory at second-ranked Southern Indiana on Jan. 5, 2012 – another game that involved a big comeback for an S&T win.

Northeastern State (9-2), which moved into the top 25 for the first time this season on Tuesday, jumped on the Miners early in the contest as it ran off the game's first 10 points to take the early advantage.  That lead would eventually grow to 18-3 as the RiverHawks made seven of their first 10 shots and hit four three-pointers along the way.

Meanwhile, S&T struggled out of the gate as they made only two-of-10 from the floor and turned the ball over seven times in the first 10 minutes, allowing the RiverHawks to take as much as a 19-point lead in that span.  NSU's lead grew to 33-12 a short time later before the Miners began clawing back into the contest.

The Miners outscored the RiverHawks 16-7 over a span of six minutes and got to within 12 following a three-pointer by Jordan Newt (San Francisco, CA/Malibu).  S&T trailed 42-28 at the intermission as it held Northeastern State to just seven-of-19 shooting over the last 10 minutes of the opening half.

S&T continued to cut into the RiverHawk lead in the second half, getting the margin inside of double figures for the first time since early in the game when Nathan Elmer (Nixa, MO/Nixa) drained a three-pointer with just over 13 minutes remaining.  Moments later, a trey by Dulan Scott (Chicago, IL/Farragut Academy) made it an eight-point game, then Elmer hit another three-pointer at the 10:53 mark to get S&T to within seven at 55-48.

Elmer hit another three-pointer with 8:58 to play, then following a NSU miss, Hedgepeth hit a three in transition to cut the Northeastern State lead to four.  The Miners' hot three-point shooting in the second half continued and with 6:04 remaining, Hedgepeth hit S&T's ninth three-pointer of the half to tie the contest at 64.

With 3:25 to play, Newt hit a runner along the baseline to give the Miners a 71-70 lead – their first advantage of the night – then got the lead back again when Chima Oduocha (Hoffman Estates, IL/Conant) hit a pair of free throws with 2:18 left on the clock.

Northeastern State tied the game on an alley-oop dunk by Aaron Givens and moved back in front when Bradley George hit a turnaround jumper in the lane with 1:04 to play.  After both teams missed shots, S&T got the ball into Hedgepeth's hands following a timeout and he dribbled the clock down until hitting the shot from in front of the bench to put the Miners back in front.

Hedgepeth had 16 points was among five Miners that finished in double figures in the scoring column, led by Newt's 17 points on the night.  Mitch Fairless (St. Charles, MO/Duchesne) added 13 points, while Elmer had a career-high 12 – all on three-pointers – and Scott finished with 10.

S&T shot a season-best 50.9 percent from the field and went 17-of-29 from the floor (58.6 percent) in the second half, including a 10-of-14 performance from beyond the arc.  The Miners have made at least 10 three-point baskets in each of their last three contests and have made 41 treys during that span.

The RiverHawks had four in double figures, led by Givens' 16 points.  NSU finished the game at 45.8 percent from the field after the hot start, but made only one of its seven three-point shots in the second half after hitting seven-of-13 in the first 20 minutes.

The Miners return to action on Jan. 2 and resume Great Lakes Valley Conference play in the process when they face Lindenwood in St. Charles, Mo.