SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Missouri S&T's men's basketball team picked up a hard-fought victory Monday night to break into the win column for the first time in Great Lakes Valley Conference play, as S&T held off Drury's long-range barrage to beat the Panthers 82-79 in the O'Reilly Family Events Center.
The Miners (5-1, 1-1 GLVC) – who never led by more than four points at any juncture of the game – got big performances from
Julien Smith (Fort Worth, TX/Northwest) and down the stretch from
Lovell Williams (Rogers, MN/Maple Grove) as they bounced back from Saturday's loss at Southwest Baptist to win at Drury for the second time in three seasons.
Williams scored the final five points for S&T, converting on a conventional three-point play with 1:09 remaining to give the Miners an 80-79 and getting a favorable bounce on an 18-foot jumper with 12 seconds to go to extend the lead to three after the Panthers (2-4, 0-1 GLVC) had missed a shot in between. The Miners then held firm on the final possession as Brock Wakefield's three-point try to tie the game came up short.
Drury led for a good portion of the first half behind its three-point shooting, as it connected on 10-of-20 from three-point range during the first 20 minutes. The Panthers used the three-point shot to build a lead by halftime, getting treys from Quenton Shelton and Riley Naeger to go up by seven with under four minutes to go in the half, then got their 10
th three-pointer of the half when Preston Cook connected one out of the corner right before the first half ended.
The Panthers led 45-40 at the intermission, but the Miners came out of the gate flying in the second half and took the lead at 47-46 when Williams knocked down a three just under two minutes into the half. The contest then went back-and-forth as there were 11 lead changes and five ties throughout the course of the second half.
With the game tied at 61,
Kaden Froebe (Lincoln, IL/Lincoln) blocked a shot by Wakefield that led to a basket by
Andrew Young (Ballwin, MO/Marquette) that put the Miners in the lead. S&T would build that lead to four when
Alex Benassi (Lee's Summit, MO/Lee's Summit) hit two free throws, but the Panthers rallied and took a 69-67 lead with 8:20 to go when Cook hit a three-pointer. Williams would score on a put-back nearly two minutes later to give the lead back to S&T, then the teams swapped the lead six times over the next five-plus minutes.
Drury took a 79-77 lead when Naeger hit a three-pointer with 1:28 to go, but Williams went one-on-one in the low block with Trey Lewis and got his short jumper to fall and was fouled on the play; the free throw that followed put the Miners back up for good.
Shelton, who hit four of the Panthers' 14 three-pointers in the game, missed a shot from beyond the arc that Froebe rebounded. S&T then ran down the shot clock and put the ball back into Williams' hands and after getting his defender I the air, dribbled inside the three-point line and knocked down a jumper that bounced off the rim and fell through the basket to make it a three-point game.
The Miners shot 69.2 percent in the second half and finished the evening at 57.4 percent, while also outrebounding the Panthers by a 39-22 margin. Williams had 23 points to lead the Miners and Smith ended up with 21, while
Ikenna Okeke (Bolingbrook, IL/Romeoville) also reached double figures with 12 points and added a team-high eight rebounds.
Shelton had 21 points to lead Drury, who shot 43.9 percent in the game and only 33.3 percent over the final 20 minutes.
Missouri S&T will take on undefeated Missouri-St. Louis on Saturday in a 3 p.m. game in St. Louis. The Tritons improved to 6-0 after winning 70-65 at Southwest Baptist on Monday.
