Box Score SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – In a season finale that saw seven lead changes in the second half, it was the last one by Illinois Springfield that started an 10-0 run that sent Missouri S&T to defeat as the host Prairie Stars handed the Miners an 80-71 loss Saturday afternoon.

The teams swapped the lead 13 times overall in the contest and six times in a stretch of a little over three minutes.  After the Miners had taken a 53-52 lead on a put-back by Ryan Parker (Bloomington, IN/Ridgeview), the sixth of those lead swaps came on a basket by Jason Bergstrom 16 seconds later that put UIS (8-12) up for good at 54-53.

Bergstrom's basket sparked the 10-0 run that was halted by a three-point play by Kevin Legardy (Las Vegas, NV/Canyon Springs), but the Miners were unable to get any closer than six for the remainder of the contest as they closed the 2020-21 season with a record of 4-16.

The contest was tight for much of the first half with neither team holding more than a six-point advantage.  The Prairie Stars used a 7-0 run to take a five-point lead eight minutes into the game and still led by five with 4:41 to play in the opening half, but S&T went on a 9-0 run late in the first half to take its largest lead of the game when Kevin Legardy (Las Vegas, NV/Canyon Springs) made a floater in the lane at the 2:01 mark.

Mitch Fairless (St. Charles, MO/Duchesne) answered a pair of Chase Robinson free throws to put the Miner lead back at six before S&T took a 37-33 lead to halftime.  The Miners opened the second half with a pair of baskets from Kaden Froebe (Lincoln, IL/Lincoln) to extend their lead to eight and bring about a UIS timeout, then the Prairie Stars outscored S&T 16-2 over the next four minutes, taking the lead on two more Robinson free throws with 15:47 to play.

S&T responded with a 6-0 run of its own to regain the advantage on a shot in the lane by Legardy before the teams started swapping baskets over the next three-plus minutes.  The Miners took their last lead on the Parker basket at the 9:33 mark before UIS made its definitive run.

Robinson led all scorers in the game with 20 points, while Yamani Shareef came off the bench to score 19 for UIS.
 
Julien Smith (Fort Worth, TX/Northwest) finished his freshman season by leading the Miners with 17 points, closing the year with a team-high scoring average of 17.8 points per game, the second-highest average ever by an S&T freshman.  Legardy finished with 14 points on the afternoon and Mitch Fairless (St. Charles, MO/Duchesne) closed the contest with 12.

The Miners shot 42.9 percent in the game, but made only five-of-20 from three-point range and one-of-12 from beyond the arc in the second half.