EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Missouri S&T's men's basketball team hung tough with Southern Indiana throughout Saturday's Great Lakes Valley Conference game at Screaming Eagles Arena, but USI held onto the lead it gained with a second half run down the stretch to down the Miners 72-65.
The Miners (10-15, 6-12 GLVC), who had not held a lead in either of its last two games, held the advantage for a good chunk of the first half Saturday and led by as much as nine after the intermission, but the Screaming Eagles (16-6, 11-5 GLVC) used the hot shooting of Tyler Henry to make a 14-0 to take the lead for good.
S&T had the lead for a better part of the opening half, leading by a much as five after
Michael Appiah Brefo (Jefferson City, MO/Jefferson City) scored on a alley-oop dunk off an assist by
Julien Smith (Fort Worth, TX/Northwest) and then hit one of two at the line at the 10:26 mark of the first half. USI was able to erase that deficit and took the lead back on a Clayton Hughes three-pointer that capped an 8-0 run before S&T knotted the score back up when Smith hit a three-point shot on its next trip down the floor.
Southern Indiana led by as much as six in the first half, but the Miners – behind 17 first half points from
Kaden Froebe (Lincoln, IL/Lincoln) – rallied back and outscored the Screaming Eagles 12-2 to close the half, as Froebe's basket on a driving layup gave the Miners a 37-33 lead at halftime.
The Miners came out in the second half and built their lead to nine at 48-39 following a three-point basket by Froebe with 16:18 remaining, but Henry got hot from the field and sparked a run that would give the lead back to USI over the next three minutes.
Henry, who scored 17 of his game-high 24 points in the second half, opened the run by hitting two free throws and would score seven of the 14 points in that burst. Those points included a three-pointer at the 13:23 mark that put the Screaming Eagles into the lead and an off-balance shot in the lane for the last of the 14 points.
S&T fought back and closed the gap to one at 53-52 after two Froebe free throws and a driving lay-in by
Dylan Singleton (Lincoln, IL/Lincoln), but missed two chances to move back in front before Henry scored again to extend the lead to three. That basket opened a quick 7-0 burst that pushed the advantage back to eight with 7:31 left.
The Miners, who shot just 28.6 percent in the second half after hitting 42.9 percent of their shots in the first 20 minutes of play, got a steal and subsequent basket by
Alex Strating (Wassenaar, Netherlands/American School of the Hague) with 1:14 to get to within four. Strating was fouled on the play but missed the free throw, then the Screaming Eagles got three offensive rebounds on their next possession that ended with a Jelani Simmons basket that gave USI a six-point lead with 31 seconds to go.
S&T turned the ball over after the Simmons basket and USI made three-of-four free throws over the final 22 seconds to ice the win.
Froebe scored a career-high 22 points for the Miners as he recorded his third double-double on the season by adding 11 rebounds. S&T also got 15 points from Smith and 12 from Singleton; Smith and Froebe each finished with four assists as well.
Simmons added 15 points for the Screaming Eagles, who also got 19 rebounds from GLVC leader Jacob Polakovich as they had a 51-34 advantage on the boards. The Miners held USI to 40.9 percent shooting from the field and to a six-of-22 mark from three-point range.
Missouri S&T will open its final homestand of the season Thursday when it hosts Illinois Springfield at 7:30 p.m. at Gibson Arena.
