ST. LOUIS, Mo. – For the second time in eight days, Missouri S&T's men's basketball team took a lead into the second half on the road against a nationally-ranked team, but was unable to come away with the victory as 18
th-ranked Missouri-St. Louis handed the Miners a 76-67 defeat Saturday at the Mark Twain Building.
The loss dropped the Miners to 5-2 overall and 1-2 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference, while the Tritons remained undefeated at 8-0 overall and 3-0 in GLVC play.
After a tight first half where the teams swapped the lead six times and there were eight ties along the way, the Miners made a run late in the half to take as much as an eight-point lead. UMSL led 28-25 before a lay-in by
Ikenna Okeke (Bolingbrook, IL/Romeoville) sparked a 11-0 run, which was capped by jumper from outside the lane by
Julien Smith (Fort Worth, TX/Northwest) that gave the Miners a 36-28 advantage with just under a minute to play in the half.
The Miners took a 37-31 lead to the locker room, but came out cold to start the second half and the Tritons scored the first six points of the period to tie the contest up. S&T, however, got the lead back and built it back to eight following three-point baskets by
Andrew Young (Ballwin, MO/Marquette) and
Lovell Williams (Rogers, MN/Maple Grove).
S&T maintained the lead until Mayson Quartlebaum drained a three-pointer out of the corner with 9:40 to play to knot the score at 54, then went in front moments later when Quartlebaum made two free throws. Those points were all part of a 9-0 run that would give the Tritons the lead for good.
The Miners tried to stay within striking range and trailed by five after a Williams basket at the 3:52 mark, but UMSL extended the lead to nine over the next minute and S&T never got any closer down the stretch.
Missouri S&T shot just 34.5 percent in the second half and 41.1 percent for the game, while scoring only nine points off of UMSL's 15 turnovers as opposed to the Tritons' 22 off S&T's 13 miscues.
Julien Smith (Fort Worth, TX/Northwest) led the Miners with 20 points, including a three-point basket at the 4:58 mark of the first half to become the 26
th player in program history to reach the 1,000-point mark. Okeke finished with 17 points and a team-high nine rebounds, while Williams ended up with 14.
Quartlebaum led five Tritons in double figures with 16 points as UMSL shot 51 percent from the field on the afternoon.
Missouri S&T will return home for a pair of games next week, starting with Tuesday's non-conference game against Principia at 7 p.m. at Gibson Arena. S&T will play its first GLVC home contest next Saturday against Illinois Springfield, who remained tied with UMSL atop the GLVC standings at 3-0 in league play with a win over Truman State.
