ROLLA, Mo. – After rallying from a 19-point deficit with just under two minutes gone in the second half and then forcing overtime on a shot right before the final buzzer in regulation time, Missouri S&T's men's basketball team came up just short in its season opener Thursday night as it fell 89-86 to McKendree at Gibson Arena.

Trailing 46-27 following a three-point basket by Luke Hensler 1:48 into the second half, the Miners ripped off a 25-2 run – capped with 21 straight points -- to take the lead in the contest.  Dawson Berry's (Centralia, IL/Centralia) three-pointer at the 12:10 mark pushed S&T into the lead at 50-48, then a steal and dunk by Mitch Fairless (St. Charles, MO/Duchesne) extended the Miner lead to four and forced the Bearcats to use a timeout.

S&T was able to maintain the advantage until the 6:27 mark, when Alexsandar Davitkov scored in the lane to give the Bearcats the lead back at 59-58.  From that point, it became a back-and-forth affair for the balance of regulation time.  The teams combined for six ties and two lead changes over the next five-plus minutes before a foul call against S&T – and a technical foul that followed – allowed the Bearcats to score four points at the free throw line to break a 71-all tie with 44 seconds remaining.

But the Miners were still not finished.  After Davitkov made one of two at the line with 33 seconds to play, Berry cut the lead to three with a lay-up, then Bryson Bultman missed two free throws with five seconds remaining to keep the door open.  Fairless grabbed the rebound, went down the floor and fired in a three-pointer with three-tenths of a second to go to send the contest to overtime.

"I thought we showed a lot of grit," S&T head coach Bill Walker said regarding the Miners' second half rally during his post-game show.  "(Mahamadou) Kaba-Camera really jump-started us with a couple of dunks and then Mitch and Ryan jumped in and kept our momentum going.  I'm never going to walk away happy with a loss, but I'm really proud of our guys for their effort as they gave us a chance to pull this game out."

In the extra period, however, the Miners could never gain the lead.  Brendon Gooch opened the overtime session by draining a three to put McKendree on top before the Miners tied it on a basket by Ryan Parker (Bloomington, IN/Ridgeview) and a free throw by Fairless.  But 18 seconds after Fairless tied it, Davitkov hit a three to put the Bearcats back into the lead and they never relinquished it despite the Miners' late efforts.

Gooch hit another trey with 54 seconds to go to give McKendree an 87-81 lead, but a three-point play by Berry cut that lead in half with 31 seconds left.  After Oliver Stephen made the second of two free throws moments later, Kevin Legardy (Las Vegas, NV/Canyon Springs) drove all the way to the basket and scored to make it a two-point game with 10 seconds to go.

Davitkov was fouled following the inbounds pass and hit the first of his two efforts at the free throw line, but missed the second to give S&T yet another chance.  Gooch then thwarted the Miners' opportunity to send the contest into another period by making a steal in the open floor in the final moments.

After hitting just 40 percent of their shots in the first half, the Miners knocked down 54.8 percent of their tries in the second half – including a seven-of-10 mark from three-point range in the final 20 minutes of regulation time – and went four-of-eight from the floor in overtime to finish at 47.8 percent on the evening.  McKendree finished the contest at 44.3 percent.

Fairless, who scored a career-high 26 points and Legardy both finished with double-doubles for the Miners, as Fairless pulled down 11 rebounds and Legardy had 10 to go along with his 13 points.  The Miners also got 18 points from Parker in his Miner debut on the floor Thursday and 11 points from Berry.

In addition, Kaden Froebe (Lincoln, IL/Lincoln) finished the game with eight steals – one shy of the Miners' single-game record – and six assists to go along with his eight points.

Gooch led four Bearcats in double figures with 21 points and added 14 rebounds in the contest.

Missouri S&T returns to action Saturday as it hosts Rockhurst in a 3 p.m. game at Gibson Arena.