ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T's men's basketball team led for much of the first half of Thursday's Great Lakes Valley Conference matchup with Southwest Baptist at Gibson Arena, but the Bearcats used a spurt midway through the second half to take a lead as they held off the Miners for a 75-71 win.

The Miners (3-9, 1-5 GLVC) led 45-42 following a CJ Hedgepeth (Evansville, IN/Harrison) basket at the 15:04 mark, but went into a scoring drought that lasted over five minutes during which time SBU (11-3, 4-2 GLVC) ran off 11 straight points to take the lead for good.

Quinn Nelson, who scored 18 of his team-high 20 points in the second half, gave the Bearcats the lead with a three-pointer at the 12:45 mark and connected on another less than a minute following a trey by Joe Miller that capped the SBU run.

The Bearcats built their lead to as much as 12 in the second half before S&T made a late run at them.  Jordan Newt (San Francisco, CA/Malibu) hit a three-pointer with 3:01 remaining to bring the Miners back to within three at 68-65, but the Miners missed opportunities to tie the game on their next two trips down the floor.  Damian Prgomet hit one-of-two at the line with 1:29 to go to extend the lead to four.

S&T did get back to within three one more time when Nathan Elmer (Nixa, MO/Nixa) drained a three-pointer with 52 seconds to go, but the Bearcats got an offensive rebound off a missed shot and Brady Smith scored on a lay-up to make it a five-point game.  S&T's Dulan Scott (Chicago, IL/Farragut Academy) was then called for an offensive foul on a drive to the basket with 11 seconds to play and Nelson iced the win with two late free throws.

The Miners held the advantage for a good portion of the first 20 minutes as they used a 12-0 run to take a nine-point lead at the 4:48 mark.  Newt opened the run with a three-pointer to tie the score at 22, then S&T went in front on a basket by Chima Oduocha (Hoffman Estates, IL/Conant) on the next trip down the floor.  Hedgepeth scored the next five points in the run before Scott closed it with a lay-in to make it 31-22.

S&T shot 48.1 percent in the first half and held the Bearcats to two-of-11 shooting in the opening period to take a 35-32 lead to the locker room.  The Miners held onto that lead until SBU made its second half run.

Hedgepeth followed up his career-high 32-point effort on Saturday with 25 points to lead all scorers in the contest, while Scott finished with 17 and Newt with 12.  The Miners made 11-of-24 from three-point range on the night and finished the game at 45.6 percent from the field.

All five starters for SBU finished the game in double figures as the Bearcats shot 55.6 percent in the second half and 52.8 percent overall.

Missouri S&T returns to action Saturday when it hosts Drury (10-4, 3-3 GLVC) in a 3 p.m. contest at Gibson Arena.  The Panthers held off Maryville Thursday for a 76-71 win.