ST. LOUIS, Mo. – Missouri S&T's men's basketball team – in particular CJ Hedgepeth (Evansville, IN/Harrison) -- warmed up in the second half to carry the Miners to a 76-70 Great Lakes Valley Conference victory Thursday night over Maryville.

Hedgepeth, who finished with a team-high 18 points, warmed up just in time as the Miners (5-18, 3-12 GLVC) fell behind early in the second half as he drained a trio of three-point baskets and finished with 13 of his 18 points in the final 20 minutes of play – capped by a steal on a late Maryville possession when the Saints (9-16, 4-12 GLVC) had a chance to tie the contest.

The Miners were able to take advantage of some cold shooting by the Saints early in the contest, taking as much as a  six-point lead in the first eight minutes of play.   S&T then extended the margin to nine after a three-pointer by Brooks Gerrity (Chesterfield, MO/Marquette) at the 9:13 mark, before the Saints rattled off nine straight points to trim that lead to two.

S&T answered back with baskets by Mitch Fairless (St. Charles, MO/Duchesne) and Juwan Miller (Kitchener, Ont./Huron Heights) to bring the lead back to six and prompt a Maryville timeout, then before the half ended, the Saints went on a 8-0 run to take the lead back before a Romain Louiserre (La Ferte Alais, France/Fredrick Fays) basket just before the half ended tied the score at 31.

Maryville got the early jump to begiin the second half, taking a six-point lead on Zach Glotta's conventional three-point play at the 16:45 mark.  However, S&T – who was just two-of-13 from three-point range in the first 20 minutes – started warming up from long range, beginning with a three-pointer by Hedgepeth that cut that margin in half.

The Miners had a one-point lead at 48-47 when they began a 6-0 run, which began when Miller got an offensive rebound off a Hedgepeth miss and scored; that was followed by baskets by Jalen Myers (Shorewood, IL/Minooka) and Dulan Scott (Chicago, IL/Farragut Academy) to extend the S&T back to seven and brought about another Saint timeout.

S&T led 68-59 with 4:30 remaining following a dunk by Louiserre, but the Saint started chipping away at the difference, getting to within three on Dezmond McDaniel's lay-up with 2:27 to go.  A pair of free throws got the lead back to five, but Zach Colletta, who was a perfect 10-of-10 at the free throw line, missed the second of two free throws with 1:14 to go to keep the S&T lead at four.

Louiserre got the offensive rebound off his own miss with 49 seconds to go and was fouled; he proceeded to hit both at the line to make it a six-point game.  Chaz Glotta's three-pointer with 33 seconds remaining cut that lead in half, then Myers missed two free throws with 12 seconds later to give the Saints a chance. However, Hedgepeth squelched that opportunity with a steal and a three-point play to get the lead back to six with 9.6 seconds left.

Louiserre added 16 points and Myers had 15 off the bench for the Miners, who completed a sweep of the two contests of two contests over the Saints this season – S&T's first two-game sweep of a conference opponent since winning twice over Rockhurst and William Jewell in the 2013-14 season.  The victory also ended a five-game losing streak by the Miners in Moloney Arena.

S&T shot 53.6 percent from the field in the second half and finished the contest at 45.3 percent.

Colletta led the Saints with 20 points, but S&T held Casey Teson, the third-leading scorer in the GLVC entering the game, to seven points on three-of-11 shooting from the floor.

Missouri S&T plays its final road contest of the 2018-19 season Saturday at Missouri-St. Louis, with tip-off scheduled for 3 p.m.