ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T's men's basketball struggled to contain Rockhurst's inside game Thursday night as the Hawks grinded out a physical 78-67 Great Lakes Valley Conference win over the Miners at Gibson Arena.

Nick Volz and Quinton Curry combined for 40 points and 18 rebounds and had a big hand in allowing the Hawks (11-6, 7-2 GLVC) to break away from the Miners (4-11, 2-7 GLVC) after they had closed the gap in the second half.

S&T built an early four-point lead, but the Hawks used an 8-0 run to take a nine-point advantage by the 13:02 mark.  Rockhurst would eventually build its lead to 11 after Curry hit two free throws with 10:03 to play in the half, but the Miners began clawing away at the margin and erased it with a 14-3 spurt over a seven-minute span late in the half.

The Miners took a 33-31 lead on Chima Oduocha's (Hoffman Estates, IL/Conant) three-point play with 49 seconds remaining in the half, then after Chris Hamil converted a four-point play to give Rockhurst the lead back, Yahmir Muhammad (Rockford, IL/Auburn) scored with 28 seconds left to tie score.  However, Hamil hit a three-pointer out of the corner just before the buzzer sounded to give Rockhurst a 38-35 halftime lead.

The Hawks extended their lead to seven at the start of the second half, but S&T ran off seven straight points and evened the score on Jordan Newt's (San Francisco, CA/Malibu) basket at the 15:12 mark.  Oduocha scored again just over 30 seconds later after Rockhurst had regained the lead to knot the contest at 44, but the Hawks began going into the paint to take control of the contest.

Lasse Gummerus' three-point play with 14:16 left gave the Hawks the lead for good, although the Miners drew to within five at the 6:01 mark when Dulan Scott (Chicago, IL/Farragut Academy) completed a three-point play.  Volz and Curry, however, combined to score 11 points for the Hawks in the course of a 13-5 spurt that pushed the margin out to 13 over the next four minutes of play.

Mitch Fairless (St. Charles, MO/Duchesne) recorded his second career double-double with 19 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Miners, who shot 40.9 percent in the game and outrebounded the Hawks by a 36-34 margin.  CJ Hedgepeth (Evansville, IN/Harrison) was the only other Miner in double figures as he finished with 12 points.

All of Rockhurst's scoring in the game came from its starting five, led by Volz's 21. Curry had a double-double of his own with 19 points and 10 boards, while Curtis Lewis added 17.

Missouri S&T heads to the road for its next three games, beginning with Saturday's 3 p.m. contest against William Jewell in Liberty, Mo.