ROLLA, Mo. – Behind a strong shooting performance and a career scoring day from
Lovell Williams (Rogers, MN/Maple Grove), Missouri S&T's men's basketball team outlasted Illinois Springfield Saturday afternoon as it knocked off the Prairie Stars 97-93 in a Great Lakes Valley Conference matchup at Gibson Arena.
Williams went 12-of-15 from the field as part of the Miners' 59.6 percent shooting performance, scoring a career-high 36 points along the way as the Miners evened their GLVC record at 2-2 and moved to 7-2 overall. The 36 points were the most by a Miner since Bryce Foster scored 36 in a game against Truman State on Jan. 30, 2014 and helped the Miners end an 11-game losing streak to the Prairie Stars (8-2, 3-1 GLVC).
The teams went toe-to-toe right from the outset as the lead swapped hands several times over nearly the entire first half. Neither team had a team of more than three, with the exception of a four-point advantage the Miners held at 14-10 after a basket by
Ikenna Okeke (Bolingbrook, IL/Romeoville) at the 13:49 mark.
S&T shot 58.1 percent from the field in the first half while the Prairie Stars connected on 53.3 percent of their shots which included seven three-pointers.
Williams scored in the paint right before the first half ended to bring the Miners to within one at 43-42, then got on fire after the intermission as he scored 26 of his 36 over the final 20 minutes. He didn't get his first point of the second half until hitting two free throws at the 14:41 mark and right before UIS took its largest lead of the afternoon on a Michael Wright three-pointer to give the Prairie Stars a 56-52 advantage.
With the Miners trailing 56-55, Williams put the Miners back in front with a layup, then answered a Max Kunnert three-pointer with another lay-in in traffic to knot the contest at 59. With 10:32 to play, Williams drained a turnaround jumper in the lane to give a lead they would not surrender at 63-61.
During a stretch of nearly two and a half minutes, Williams scored 11 straight points as the Miners took and then started to build on their lead.
Andrew Young (Ballwin, MO/Marquette) hit a three-pointer to give the Miners a six-point lead before Williams scored the next seven for S&T; his last basket, a three-pointer at the 6:18, gave the Miners a nine-point cushion.
S&T would eventually build its lead to 12 on a basket by Okeke with 4:36 left, but the Prairie Stars wouldn't go away quietly. UIS trimmed the lead down to four with 14 seconds to go, then after Williams made two free throws to make it a six-point game, Keith Johnson cut the lead in half with two seconds remaining with a three-pointer out of the corner. The Prairie Stars fouled
Julien Smith (Fort Worth, TX/Northwest) on the inbounds pass and he made the second of two free throws to ice the victory.
Williams was joined in double figures by
Kaden Froebe (Lincoln, IL/Lincoln) with 17 points, Okeke with 16 and Smith with 12. That quartet combined to go 30-of-45 (66.7 percent) from the field between them on Saturday.
Kunnert had 22 points off the bench and Jordan Rice had 20 to lead UIS, who his 15 three-pointers in the game after coming into the game as the GLVC leader in that department with 11.1 threes per game.
Missouri S&T will be idle until next Saturday when it plays the first of its two games in Las Vegas the Division II Holiday Hoops Classic, taking on Montana State Billings in a game that will get underway at 10 p.m. Central time. The Miners will also take on West Liberty – currently ranked fourth in NCAA Division II – the following night.
