ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T got a victory in its Great Lakes Valley Conference opener Monday night, but not without a few tense moments down the stretch as the Miners held off a late Drury rally to knock off the Panthers 80-76 at Gibson Arena.

S&T led 65-48 with 8:48 to play and still held a double-figure lead with two minutes remaining, but thanks to some missed free throws down the stretch, the Panthers (2-5, 0-1 GLVC) were able to close the gap all the way to one with two seconds to go.  The Miners (2-3, 1-0 GLVC) were finally able to finish off the win as Julien Smith (Fort Worth, TX/Northwest) made three of four at the line in those final seconds.

Drury held as much as a five-point lead in the early stages of the contest, but thanks to an 8-0 run by the Miners, S&T took the lead back and took it for good at the 10:53 mark of the first half on a conventional three-point play by Micah Johnson (Ankeny, IA/Centennial). 

The Miners ran off a 9-0 run following the Johnson three-point play and eventually built it to as much as 10 at 31-21 before the Panthers closed the gap to three by halftime.  The game remained tight over the first six minutes of the second half before S&T blew the game open with a 16-2 burst when Drury went cold from the field.

Ryan Parker (Bloomington, IN/Bloomington South), who shared the top scoring honors for the Miners with Smith, knocked down a three-pointer to kickstart the run, then scored again on a pullup jumper sandwiched between two Kevin Legardy (Las Vegas, NV/Canyon Springs) baskets in the lane to build the lead back to 10 again.  Smith would close the scoring burst with a couple of three-pointers, the last coming at the 8:48 mark that gave the Miners their largest lead of the night.

The Panthers, who made only one of their 12 shots during the Miners' 16-2 stretch, starting chipping away at the S&T lead but couldn't get it under nine until Malek Davis drained a trey with 1:25 to play to make it 75-67.  A Miner turnover led to a transition basket, then Davis scored again after S&T missed the front end of a one-and-one with 38 seconds to go to cut the lead to 75-71.

Parker scored on a lay-in with 21 seconds to go to make it a six-point game again, but Davis was fouled at the other end and made the first of his two free throws.  He missed the second, but Clay Gayman got the offensive rebound and putback to make it a three-point game.

Another missed chance at the free throw line by S&T gave Drury a chance to tie the game, but Davis missed the three and Gayman scored on the rebound to cut the margin to one.  Smith was fouled on the inbounds pass, made the first free throw and missed the second intentionally – but the ball went out of bounds without touching a player on the floor to give Drury one more chance with two seconds to go.

However, the Panthers threw the inbounds away and Smith locked up the victory by making two more free throws for the final margin.

S&T had two others in double figures in Alex Strating (Wassenaar, Netherlands/American School of the Hague) with 15 points and Legardy with 11 as it shot 50.8 percent from the field on the evening.  The Miners also made seven-of-19 from three-point range and had just eight turnovers in the contest, but finished just 11-of-23 at the free throw line.

Gayman led three Panthers in double figures with 17 points as Drury shot 42.3 percent on the night.

Missouri S&T will head to the road for the balance of the week, returning to GLVC play Thursday when it takes on William Jewell at 7:30 p.m. in Liberty, Mo.