ROLLA, Mo. – After trailing for nearly the entire game and down by as much as 11 in the second half, Missouri S&T's men's basketball team staged a rally and pulled out a 67-66 win over Drury Thursday night at Gibson Arena.

The win – which allowed the Miners to sweep the season series of at least two games over the Panthers for the first time since the 1976-77 season – came after Kevin Legardy (Las Vegas, NV/Canyon Springs) made a steal with 17 seconds left and led Kaden Froebe (Lincoln, IL/Lincoln) for the go-ahead basket, then the Miners had two withstand a pair of opportunities for Drury (5-6) in the final seconds to improve to 4-10 overall and in the Great Lakes Valley Conference.

Conley Garrison, whose turnover led to the Miners' go-ahead basket, was called for traveling with six seconds remaining but made a steal on the inbounds pass to give the Panthers another chance.  However, Malek Davis' three-pointer out of the corner was off the mark and the Panthers were unable to get a second shot away before the buzzer sounded.

Unlike the first meeting between the teams that the Miners led for nearly the entire game, Thursday's game was one where the Miners spent most of it trying to climb back from a deficit.  S&T took a 7-6 lead on a jumper by Kyle Bushman (Mount Vernon, MO/Mount Vernon) at the 16:19 mark of the first half, but Drury took the lead back on an Obi Okafor lay-in nearly a minute later and would hold onto that advantage until Julien Smith (Fort Worth, TX/Northwest) converted a three-point play with just six minute to go before halftime to give S&T the lead back.

However, that lead was short-lived, as Garrison drained a three-pointer on the Panthers' next trip down the floor to give his team a lead it would carry into halftime; the lead grew to as much as seven before the Miners trimmed it to four by the intermission.

Following a dunk by Mahamadou Kaba-Camera (Conakry, Guinea/Balboa City (San Diego, CA)) nearly four minutes into the second half that cut Drury's lead back to four, the Panthers outscored the Miners 9-2 over the next four minutes to take their largest lead of the game at 50-39.  The Miners, though, had a response as they ran off seven in a row to trim the margin to four over the next minute of play and then had to overcome another seven-point deficit with 7:35 remaining.

Trailing 55-48, the Miners got two baskets from Smith sandwiched around another dunk by Kaba-Camera to get to within a point, but missed a chance to take the lead as a turnover led to a Brandon Emmert layup at the other end to push the Drury lead back to three.  The Panthers extended the lead to five, but the Miners got another basket inside by Kaba-Camera before Smith drained a three out of the corner to knot the score at 59.

With the score tied at 63, Garrison was fouled on a three-point attempt and made all three at the line to give Drury the lead back.  After both teams missed shots, Kaba-Camera was fouled with 36 seconds to go and made both ends of a one-and-one to cut the margin to one.  Drury then put the ball in the hands of Garrison – an 80 percent free throw shooter --  to try and use as much clock as possible or get the Miners to foul.

But after getting caught in a double team, Garrison had the ball stolen away by Legardy and he sent a lead pass out to an open Froebe for the basket that gave the Miners the lead.

The Miners shot 52.2 percent from the field in the second half and finished at 47.9 percent for the game, while holding the Panthers to just 35.9 percent overall and to a 26.7 percent mark in the second half.

Smith, who had 30 points in the Miners' December win over Drury, had 20 to lead three S&T players in double figures in Thursday's victory.  The Miners also got a career-high 14 from Kaba-Camera and 13 from Froebe.

Garrison led all scorers in the game with 27 points, but Emmert was the only other Panther in double figures with 10.

Missouri S&T will be idle until next Thursday when it continues its homestand against Maryville at Gibson Arena at 7:30 p.m.