ST. LOUIS, Mo. – Missouri S&T's men's basketball team was unable to hold off a late second half surge by Missouri-St. Louis Saturday afternoon and dropped a 68-56 Great Lakes Valley Conference contest to the Tritons.

The game was a back-and-forth affair for most of the afternoon, but S&T was outscored 13-2 over the final 3:33 of the contest as it dropped to 5-19 overall and 3-13 in GLVC play.

The Miners got off to a quick start, making five of their first six shots from the floor to take an early six-point advantage, then that lead was extended to eight when Brooks Gerrity (Chesterfield, MO/Marquette) knocked down a long three-point shot at the 12:48 mark.  However, a 9-0 Triton run allowed UMSL to regain the lead, as Ronnie Carson's basket with 9:39 left in the half put the Tritons (19-8, 10-7 GLVC) back into the lead, before Dulan Scott (Chicago, IL/Farragut Academy) put the Miners back in front at 21-19 with a three-pointer.

Scott hit another three with 8:42 remaining in the half to break a 21-all tie and give the Miners a lead it would hold until Carson hit two free throws with 3.1 seconds to go in the half to send the teams to the locker room tied at 34.

After shooting the ball well at the start of the contest, S&T finished the first half at 42.3 percent but held the Tritons to just 37.5 percent from the field.

Romain Louiserre (La Ferte Alais, France/Fredrick Fays) scored the initial basket of the second half to put the Miners back into the lead, but the Tritons went on a 7-0 run as S&T went scoreless for better than six minutes.  The Tritons were only able to build their lead to five before Scott drained a three to halt the Miners' scoreless streak and cut the lead to two with 13:09 left.  Moments later, a basket by Juwan Miller (Kitchener, Ont./Huron Heights) tied the contest up again.

The Tritons went back in front after the Miller basket, but with 8:17 to play, Scott scored off an offensive rebound to put S&T back into the lead at 48-47.  Two Louiserre free throws extended the S&T lead to three, but the Tritons went to Eric Dust to regain the advantage, as he made three free throws and then a lay-in with 5:24 to go to give UMSL the lead back.

S&T trailed by one after a basket by Scott – who led the Miners with 20 points – with 3:33 to go, but the Tritons got points on their next two possessions on a Shane Wissink three-pointer out of the corner and another lay-in by Dust to go up by six a minute later.  A minute after that, Dust converted a conventional three-point play to make it a nine-point UMSL advantage.

The Miners made just one of their final five shots down the stretch as they finished the game at 37.5 percent from the field.  UMSL, meanwhile, hit 52.9 percent of their second half shots and ended the contest at 43.9 percent.

Carson led all scorers with 23 points – scoring 15 of them at the charity stripe – while Dust ended up with 19.

Scott was the only Miner in double figures;  Louiserre, Gerrity and Yahmir Muhammad (Rockford, IL/Auburn) all had six points apiece.

The Miners will close their 2018-19 campaign with a pair of home games next week, beginning with Thursday's 7:30 p.m. clash against William Jewell at Gibson Arena.