ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T's men's basketball team returned to the floor Friday afternoon and prevailed in a fast-paced contest with Baptist Bible, knocking off the Patriots 102-77 at Gibson Arena.
The Miners (8-4) led for all but the first 15 seconds on the contest, when
Andrew Young (Ballwin, MO/Marquette) hit a three-point basket for the first points of the game. The points kept coming for the Miners after that as they shot 61 percent from the field over the first 20 minutes of the contest.
S&T took a 10-point lead just 5:30 into the contest on a three-pointer by
Julien Smith (Fort Worth, TX/Northwest) that gave the Miners a 24-14 advantage, then the Miners built their lead to 31-19 by the 12:28 mark of the first half after another basket by Smith. He had 15 of his 19 points in the first half by going six-of-six from the floor and making all three of his three-point attempts.
Baptist Bible (7-5) – who won a national championship at the National Christian College Athletic Association Division I level last season – was able to hang in the contest for a good portion of the first half as it shot over 50 percent itself. The Patriots were within nine as late as the 11:05 mark of the first half before S&T was able to break the game open a few moments later, using a 17-4 burst to take a 23-point lead with under four minutes to go in the half.
S&T ended the first half holding a 62-42 lead, scoring its most points in a half since Nov. 13, 2018.
The Miners held the Patriots down in the second half as they made only 34.3 percent of their attempts, but Baptist Bible did connect 10 times from three-point range as did S&T. The Miners finished the contest at 52.6 percent from the floor and had four players that finished in double figures.
Young led that contingent with 20 points, one off his career high, while Smith had 19 points and three steals.
Ikenna Okeke (Bolingbrook, IL/Romeoville) recorded 12 points and added five assists for S&T, while
Kaden Froebe (Lincoln, IL/Lincoln) was the fourth in double figures with 11.
Lovell Williams (Rogers, MN/Maple Grove) had six assists in his 16 minutes of playing time as the Miners were able to use their bench for extensive minutes in the contest.
Lawson Beem had 12 points and Tre Minton added 11 for Baptist Bible, who was playing Friday's game as an exhibition contest.
Missouri S&T will return to Great Lakes Valley Conference play Thursday when it hosts Maryville at 7:30 p.m. at Gibson Arena. Thursday's contest will be the first of 16 straight conference games to close the regular season schedule.
