ROLLA, Mo. – Another strong second half performance gave Missouri S&T's men's basketball team its second straight Great Lakes Valley Conference win Thursday night, as the Miners overtook GLVC West Division leader Southwest Baptist by a count of 75-71 at Gibson Arena.
After the Bearcats (11-3, 5-2 GLVC) overcame a 10-point lead the Miners built in the second half, S&T (8-9, 4-6 GLVC) won the game in the final minute as
Dylan Singleton (Lincoln, IL/Lincoln) hit two free throws with 46 seconds to go to give the Miners the lead, then hit one as did
Kaden Froebe (Lincoln, IL/Lincoln) in the final 13 seconds to seal the win as S&T got two defensive stops during that span as well.
The Miners held just one lead in the first half – of 2-0 after
Julien Smith (Fort Worth, TX/Northwest) scored the initial basket of the game – while the Bearcats led by as much as 11 after Quinn Nelson hit one of his four three-pointers in the first half. S&T used a 7-0 spurt to cut the lead down to four before the teams traded three-pointers in the final 1:11 of the half as SBU took a 37-33 lead to the locker room.
Southwest Baptist continued to hold the lead over the first seven minutes of the second half, leading by as much as seven at one point, but the Miners worked their way back and took the lead on a three-pointer by Smith at the 12:45 mark. After SBU's Mitch Ganote hit one-of-two at the line to tie the game at 51, Smith drilled another three to put S&T back into the lead again.
The Miners held onto that advantage until the 7:24 mark, when Nelson hit a pull-up jumper to knot the score at 59. However, Smith and Froebe went to work over the next three minutes, scoring all of S&T's points in a 10-0 run that gave the Miners their largest lead of the contest.
Smith hit a pair of running jumpers to start the run, then after his second basket, Froebe stole the inbounds pass and hit a layup to give the Miners a six-point lead. After the Bearcats called a timeout, Froebe scored first on a driving layup and then on a run-out after a steal by Singleton to extend the lead to 10.
SBU worked its way back and tied the score when Ganote scored in the paint with 1:09 to go, but Singleton was fouled with 46 seconds remaining and knocked down both free throws to put S&T back in the lead. The Bearcats had two opportunities on their next trip down the floor, but Nelson and Ganote missed shots and Jalil Beaubrun was called for offensive goaltending following the Ganote miss to give the ball back to the Miners with 14 seconds left.
Singleton made one-of-two at the line after he was fouled, then Nico Aguirre missed a potential game-tying shot out of the corner and Froebe secured the rebound; he would also make the first of two at the line to make it a two-possession game with three seconds remaining.
Smith scored 17 of his game-high 25 points in the second half to lead the Miners, while
Micah Johnson (Ankeny, IA/Centennial) also had a career-high 17 points and three others – Froebe, Singleton and
Alex Strating (Wassenaar, Netherlands/American School of the Hague) – all finished with nine each. The Miners, who outscored SBU 42-34 in the second half, shot 58.3 percent over the final 20 minutes and held the Bearcats, who came into the game shooting nearly 50 as a team this season, to 40 percent in the half and 42.9 percent for the game.
Froebe and Singleton also had four steals apiece as the Miners forced 20 Southwest Baptist turnovers in the game.
Nelson had 21 points to lead the Bearcats, but was held to five in the second half, while Ganote finished the night with 16.
Missouri S&T will wrap up its homestand Saturday when it takes on Rockhurst in a 3 p.m. game at Gibson Arena.
