ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T's men's basketball team nearly dug itself out of a 15-point second half hole Thursday night, but came up short as 21
st-ranked Truman State came away with an 81-72 Great Lakes Valley Conference win over the Miners at Gibson Arena.
S&T (6-8, 2-5 GLVC) struggled with its shooting in the opening half of play, making just 10-of-33 from the field as it fell behind by a double figure margin early on. The Miners held their only lead of the contest at 4-3 on a fast break layup by
Julien Smith (Fort Worth, TX/Northwest) just under three minutes into play, but the Bulldogs (11-3, 5-1 GLVC) took the lead back for good on their next trip down the floor on a dunk by Dylan Peeters that started a 9-0 run.
Truman took its first double figure lead at 16-6 on a basket by Sean Northweather before the Miners were able to claw back into the game with a 7-0 burst, capped by a three-pointer by
Micah Johnson (Ankeny, IA/Centennial) at the 6:57 mark that cut the advantage to three. However, the Bulldogs outscored S&T 8-2 to close the first half with a 36-24 lead.
The Bulldogs extended their lead to 15 by the 12:43 mark of the second half and still held a 15-point advantage with 10:09 remaining before the Miners went on an 8-0 run to cut into the lead. Smith, who was held to four points in the first half, opened the run with a pair of three-pointers, then
Alex Strating (Wassenaar, Netherlands/American School of the Hague) made two free throws to trim the margin to seven.
Kaden Froebe (Lincoln, IL/Lincoln) hit a lay-up 90 seconds later to cut the Bulldog lead to five, then Smith answered a Cade McKnight basket with another three-pointer to bring S&T to within four with 6:10 to play.
The Miners got the lead down to four three more times, the last time at 68-64 after another basket in the lane by Strating with 2:21 to go. McKnight, however, converted a conventional three-point play on Truman's possession to start a 7-0 run to allow the Bulldogs to break away late.
After struggling with their shooting throughout the first half, the Miners connected on 58.6 percent of their second half shots and finished the night at 43.5 percent. Smith scored 22 of his game-high 26 points – matching his season high – in the second half and Strating joined him in double figures with 13.
Masen Miller led four Bulldogs in double figures with 23 points as they shot 46.3 percent in the contest and made 23-of-27 at the free throw line, including their last 12. The Bulldogs also outrebounded S&T 39-28 in the game.
Missouri S&T is scheduled to return to action Saturday when it hosts William Jewell at 3 p.m. at Gibson Arena. The Cardinals (8-6, 4-2 GLVC) bumped off Drury 68-58 Thursday for their sixth win in their last seven games.
