ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T made some big plays down the stretch Thursday night and snapped a four-game losing streak in the process as it pulled out a 73-71 Great Lakes Valley Conference victory over McKendree at Gibson Arena.

Jordan Newt (San Francisco, CA/Malibu) – part of a three-headed attack that led the way for S&T – drained a three-pointer with 58 seconds to play to break a 68-all tie, then the Miners (5-14, 3-10 GLVC) forced the Bearcats (11-10, 6-7 GLVC) into a turnover on an offensive foul on their ensuing possession.  Newt was fouled on the inbounds pass and made one-of-two at the line before Jakobie Robinson hit a three-pointer to trim the lead to one with 19 seconds to go.

McKendree fouled Dulan Scott (Chicago, IL/Farragut Academy) to send him to the line and he made the first of his two free throws, but missed the second to give McKendree a chance to tie or take the lead in the final seconds.  However, CJ Hedgepeth (Evansville, IN/Harrison) blocked Logan Kohrmann's shot and batted the ball into the hands of Kyle Bushman (Mount Vernon, MO/Mount Vernon) as the clock expired.

The Miners came out of the game well, scoring eight of the first 10 points of the contest before the Bearcats ran off seven straight points to take their first lead at the 14:25 mark.  S&T regained the advantage nearly two minutes later and midway through the half, used an 11-0 run to take its biggest lead of the contest at 28-17.

The run started with a Newt three-pointer and ended with one from Dawson Berry (Centralia, IL/Centralia), as S&T made seven of their 11 treys in the opening half.

McKendree would cut that lead down to one over the next four-plus minutes, but the Miners went to the locker room holding a four-point lead.

After the Bearcats cut the lead to three on a Oliver Stephen three-pointer with just over three minutes gone in the second half, Newt was fouled on a successful three-pointer and completed the four-point play to push the lead back to seven.  Nearly four minutes later, the Miners extended the margin to eight – their largest of the second half -- on a basket by Scott.

The Miners led 68-61 with 3:26 to go, but McKendree went on a 7-0 run and tied the score on Bryson Bultman's lay-up with 1:56 remaining.  After each team missed a shot that would have given them the lead, Hedgepeth took the ball down the floor and kicked the ball over to a wide-open Newt for the go-ahead three-pointer.

Scott scored a game-high 23 points to lead the Miners, who also got 18 points from Mitch Fairless (St. Charles, MO/Duchesne) and 17 from Newt in a game where they shot 43.9 percent from the field.  Newt hit five of S&T's 11 three-pointers, while Scott connected four times from beyond the arc.  The win was the fourth in succession for the Miners over McKendree.

Kohrmann, who entered the contest as the third-leading scorer in the GLVC, led McKendree with 18 points.

Missouri S&T will return to action Saturday at Gibson Arena when it hosts Southern Indiana in a 3 p.m. game.