INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – Missouri S&T's men's basketball season came to a close Monday night as Indianapolis blitzed the Miners from three-point range in the first half and went on to post an 87-60 victory in the opening round of the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament at Nicoson Hall.
The Greyhounds (17-10) hit nine of their 13 three-point baskets in the opening half as they built a 48-33 lead by halftime. Most of the damage was done by the trio of Dee Montgomery, Cory Miller and Jakobie Robinson, who combined for seven of the treys over the first 20 minutes.
The Miners hung close for a good portion of the first half, thanks in large part to the shooting of
Julien Smith (Fort Worth, TX/Northwest) as he scored 14 of his team-high 19 points in the half. Smith accounted for nine of S&T's first 14 points and his three-point basket at the 12:37 mark brought S&T to within three at 17-14.
Another three from
Micah Johnson (Ankeny, IA/Centennial) on S&T's next possession made it a two-point game, but UIndy scored 11 of the next 13 points to extend its lead to 10 by the 8:21 mark of the half, then used the three-point shot to break the contest open over the final seven minutes of the half. A three-pointer by Montgomery at the buzzer sent the Greyhounds to the locker room with a 48-33 lead.
Uindy's lead grew quickly over the first 10 minutes of the second half as it shot 48.5 percent for the game, coupled with S&T hitting just 33.3 percent of its attempts on the night.
Smith finished a spectacular second season with the Miners with the 19-point effort to put his final scoring average for the season at 19.2 points per game; he was third in the GLVC scoring race at the start of the day. He also finished the season with 90 three-point baskets, the third-most in a season in program history and his 538 points were the ninth-most scored by a Miner in a season.
The Miners, who finished the season at 11-17, also got eight points apiece from
Dylan Singleton (Lincoln, IL/Lincoln) and
Ryan Parker (Bloomington, IN/Bloomington South) and eight from
Kaden Froebe (Lincoln, IL/Lincoln).
