BOLIVAR, Mo. – Missouri S&T's men's basketball team hung with one of the top teams in the Great Lakes Valley Conference for better than 30 minutes Saturday afternoon, but Southwest Baptist was able to break free from S&T down the stretch and came away with a 93-76 victory.

The Miners (4-14, 2-10 GLVC) had their best shooting performance of the season Saturday as they connected on 51 percent of their shots, which allowed them to keep pace with the Bearcats (16-4, 9-3 GLVC) for a large portion of the game.  S&T took its first lead at 18-15 when Nathan Elmer (Nixa, MO/Nixa) hit a three-pointer at the 12:35 mark of the opening half and traded the lead a couple of more times a short time later.

Dulan Scott's (Chicago, IL/Farragut Academy) basket with 11:05 remaining in the half gave the Miners a 20-19 lead, but the Bearcats took the lead for good on a Tyler Williams three-point play 19 seconds later that started an 8-0 run.  S&T stayed with the Bearcats, cutting what eventually turned into a 10-point lead down to four late in the first half before going to the locker room down 47-41.

SBU, which used a 24-5 burst to start the second half in its win over Maryville on Thursday, appeared ready to do the same to the Miners Saturday when the game resumed after the intermission.  After S&T's Dawson Berry (Centralia, IL/Centralia) hit a three-pointer to trim the margin in half, Damian Prgomet scored the next eight points to give the Bearcats an 11-point lead.

The Miners wouldn't go away, however, as Scott ran off five straight points in less than a minute to bring the Miners back to within six with 13:17 to go.  Just under two minutes later, Chima Oduocha (Hoffman Estates, IL/Conant) scored inside to make it a five-point game at 65-60. 

SBU got the lead back into double figures before the Miners trimmed it down again, drawing to within seven on a Mitch Fairless (St. Charles, MO/Duchesne) lay-up at the 8:02 mark.  However, the Bearcats went on a decisive 15-2 run from that point to build their lead to 20 heading into the final three minutes of play.

CJ Hedgepeth (Evansville, IN/Harrison) led three Miners in double figures with 16 points and added two assists and four steals in the contest.  Scott added 11 points and Fairless ended up with 10 as he reached double figures for the fifth consecutive game.

Prgomet had 17 points to pace the Bearcats – who had six players finish in double figures – as SBU shot 54.7 percent on the afternoon and outrebounded the Miners 37-22, a figure that included 12 offensive rebounds.

The Miners will play six of their final eight GLVC games at home, beginning with Thursday's 7:30 p.m. contest against McKendree at Gibson Arena.