KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A tough shooting night, combined with Rockhurst's hot start from three-point range, spelled defeat for Missouri S&T's men's basketball team Wednesday as the Miners suffered a 74-53 Great Lakes Valley Conference loss to the Hawks at Mason-Halpin Field House.

The Miners made only 27.9 percent of their shots from the field in the game and saw the Hawks (4-4) connect on 14 three-point shots, including nine in the opening half as they dropped to 2-7 on the season.

S&T had a pair of two-point leads in the early going following baskets by Kaden Froebe (Lincoln, IL/Lincoln) and took a 9-8 advantage – following a long scoreless stretch by both teams – on a lay-in by Kevin Legardy (Las Vegas, NV/Canyon Springs) at the 13:31 mark of the half.  Rockhurst took the lead just over 90 seconds later on Rich Byhre's three-pointer, a basket that set the tone for the Hawks to break the contest open.

The Hawks hit six consecutive three-point shots over a span of 3:21 to build a 12-point lead and all six treys came from non-starters, as Byhre hit four of them and Lasse Gummerus hit the other two as part of a first half where Rockhurst made nine-of-16 from beyond the arc.   This came three days after the Hawks went two-of-25 from long range in a loss to Lewis.

Rockhurst, who led 38-24 at the break, extended its lead to 20 early in the second half before the Miners began to chip into the margin.  Trailing 46-26, a three-pointer by Froebe started a 12-2 spurt that saw S&T draw to within 10 after Mitch Fairless (St. Charles, MO/Duchesne) hit a pair of free throws at the 11:57 mark.

The Miners still trailed by 11 just over a minute later after Julien Smith (Fort Worth, TX/Northwest) made two free throws, but Curtis Lewis – who had a career-high 33 points in the first meeting between the teams last month – banked in a three-pointer with the shot clock winding down for his first points of the night on the Hawks' next trip down the floor, then followed that with a steal and lay-in to extend the margin back to 16.

Froebe and Dawson Berry (Centralia, IL/Centralia) were the only Miners in double figures with 10 points apiece.  S&T did have a 44-43 advantage on the boards in the game and held Rockhurst to 41.8 percent shooting for the game, including a 38.9 percent mark on shots inside the arc.

Byhre led the Hawks in scoring with 16 points, all of which came in the first 20 minutes.

The Miners return to action Saturday when they host Quincy at 6 p.m. at Gibson Arena.