ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T's men's basketball team snapped a four-game losing streak Saturday night and got its first home win of the season in the process, as the Miners held off William Jewell 68-66 in a Great Lakes Valley Conference thriller at Gibson Arena.

With 2:36 remaining, William Jewell's John Zimmerman hit a three-pointer out of the corner to give the Cardinals a 63-62 lead, but the Miners regained the lead 20 seconds later as part of a 6-0 run that proved to be decisive down the stretch and allow S&T to improve to 3-9 on the season.

The Miners, who beat the Cardinals (1-8) for the second time this season, took the lead for good when Kaden Froebe (Lincoln, IL/Lincoln) made two free throws at the 2:16 mark.  Then with 57 seconds to go, Mitch Fairless (St. Charles, MO/Duchesne) banked in a shot from just inside the paint to extend the S&T advantage to three.

Zimmerman missed an attempt to tie the game and Fairless grabbed the rebound with 42 seconds to go, allowing the Miners to run clock on their next trip down the floor.  That possession ended with Julien Smith (Fort Worth, TX/Northwest) knocking down a foul line jumper with 19 seconds remaining to extend the S&T lead to 68-63.

Mason Alexander hit a three-pointer to cut the margin to two, then the Cardinals fouled Smith with 7.5 seconds left to send him to the line for a one-and-one.  Smith missed the front end and the Cardinals got the rebound with a chance to tie or win the game.  Eysan Wiley missed a three-point attempt, then Zimmerman had two chances in the final two seconds to tie it but missed both shots at the basket -- the second miss coming as time expired.

The first half set the tone for the contest, as the teams exchanged the lead six times and were tied on four occasions.  S&T never held a lead of more than four points in the first half – where it shot 47.1 percent – as they scored the first four points of the contest and held its other four-point advantage at the end of the period as it used a 6-0 run to take a 36-32 to lead to halftime.

The Miners struggled out of the gate to start the second half, however, allowing the Cardinals to take as much as a five-point lead following a three-pointer by Alexander with 10:54 left.  Jewell held that lead until the Miners tied the score with 7:39 to play when Kevin Legardy (Las Vegas, NV/Canyon Springs) hit a pair of free throws, then S&T regained the lead at 55-54 when Fairless drained a three-pointer following an offensive rebound with 6:24 to go.

A Smith three-pointer with 4:25 left gave the Miners a 60-56 lead, but the Cardinals went on an 7-0 run that eventually ended with the Zimmerman three-pointer at the 2:36 mark that put them back into the lead before S&T made its decisive run in the late going.

Fairless led the Miners with 20 points in the contest, while Froebe finished with 16 and Smith with 14; Fairless and Smith each had 12 of their points in the second half after Froebe tallied 12 of his in the first 20 minutes.  The Miners finished with a 44.1 percent shooting mark on the night while the Cardinals, who were led by Alexander with 20 points, ended the evening at 40.7 percent.

Missouri S&T will play an exhibition game Sunday at Missouri State in Springfield, Mo., before returning to GLVC play next Saturday at Southwest Baptist.  Sunday's contest will get underway at 5 p.m.