ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T's offensive attack was stifled Saturday afternoon by Missouri-St. Louis at Gibson Arena, as the Tritons held the Miners to 36.7 percent shooting and to their second-lowest point total in a game this season in handing S&T a 75-59 Great Lakes Valley Conference loss.
The Miners, who dropped to 10-12 overall and 6-9 in the GLVC, fell behind in the early minutes of the contest and despite getting the lead down to two on a couple of occasions in the first half, could not produce a significant run nor hold off the Tritons (17-6, 11-5 GLVC) at critical points when on they were on the cusp of a comeback.
S&T had early leads of 2-0 after
Kaden Froebe (Lincoln, IL/Lincoln) scored the opening basket of the contest and 5-3 following a three-pointer by
Alex Strating (Wassenaar, Netherlands/American School of the Hague) just under two minutes later, but UMSL scored the next seven points – taking the lead on a three-pointer by Jose Grubbs – to take the lead.
A three-point basket by
Dylan Singleton (Lincoln, IL/Lincoln) at the 12:11 mark of the opening half tied the game at 10, but the Tritons got back-to-back three-pointers from Shane Wissink and Isaiah Fuller to regain the lead and never trailed again. After trailing by as much as seven, S&T drew to within two at 29-27 on a jumper by
Julien Smith (Fort Worth, TX/Northwest), but UMSL answered by scoring seven of the final nine points of the half to take a 36-29 lead to the locker room.
The Tritons pushed their lead into double figures before five minutes had elapsed in the second half after a steal and basket by Yaakema Rose, then after Strating converted a three-point play to bring the Miners to within nine a short time later, UMSL ran off an 11-2 spurt to extend its lead to 17 by the 10:21 mark.
Wissink, who finished with 17 points, was the catalyst of that burst as his basket started the run and he closed it with one of the three three-pointers he connected in the second half.
The Miners got 12 points apiece from Strating, Smith and
Mahamadou Kaba-Camera (Conakry, Guinea/Balboa City (San Diego, CA)), who also recorded five blocked shots in the game and moved into the top 10 on the S&T career list for blocked shots along the way. Missouri S&T matched its single game high of the season with seven blocks in the game.
Missouri S&T will play three games away from home next week, starting with a game Monday at Lindenwood that was postponed earlier this month due to winter weather. Monday's game in St. Charles gets underway at 7:30 p.m.
