PEORIA, Ill. – Missouri S&T hung in with Bradley for much of the first half and for stretches of the contest Tuesday night, but the Braves from the NCAA Division I Missouri Valley Conference were able to pull away in the latter stages for a 92-66 win over the Miners at Carver Arena.

The game was an exhibition contest for the Miners, while Bradley picked up its first win of the year after back-to-back losses to begin the season.

S&T went toe-to-toe with the Braves for the first 10 minutes of the contest, with the Miners taking their first lead at 16-13 on a three-pointer by Julien Smith (Fort Worth, TX/Northwest) at the 14:57 mark.  A three-point play just over a minute later by Mahamadou Kaba-Camera (Conakry, Guinea/Balboa City (San Diego, CA)) extended S&T's lead to four at 19-15 before the Braves went on an 13-0 run to take the lead for good.

Bradley regained the lead when Ari Boya made the second of two free throws with 12:28 to play in the half, then pushed the advantage out to seven before Kaba-Camera scored on a put-back to halt the run. 

The Miners were still within five after Smith made two free throws with eight minutes remaining in the half, but the Braves proceeded to run off six straight points to put the lead into double figures for the first time by the 6:06 mark.  Kaba-Camera scored again on a dunk to cut the Bradley lead to nine, but the Braves ran off seven straight to put the margin into double figures for the balance of the evening.

S&T, who ran into foul issues early in the game, trailed 49-36 at the intermission despite shooting only 32.3 percent in the opening half and making just two of its 10 three-point attempts.

Smith hit another three-point shot early in the second half to bring the Miners back to within 10, but S&T hit another shooting drought after that as it did not score from the field for the next 4:38 to allow Bradley to push its lead to 18.

The Miners had the margin down to 16 as late as the 4:44 mark, but the Braves closed the game by outscoring the Miners 12-2.

Smith had 17 points to lead three Miners in double figures, while Dylan Singleton (Lincoln, IL/Lincoln) finished with 14 points and Alex Strating (Wassenaar, Netherlands/American School of the Hague) with 12.  S&T finished the contest at 32.2 percent from the field and five-of-19 from three-point range, but did go 23-of-31 at the free throw line and forced Bradley into 14 turnovers, which included four steals by Kaden Froebe (Lincoln, IL/Lincoln).

Bradley shot 44.9 percent overall and was eight-of-30 from beyond the arc, but outrebounded S&T by a 58-28 margin and had eight blocked shots in the game.

Missouri S&T will return to action next Tuesday when it faces Arkansas-Monticello at Drury University in Springfield, Mo., in a 3:15 p.m. contest.  S&T will also take on Southeastern Oklahoma State the following day in the two-day event.