ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T's men's basketball team held a narrow lead over Truman State at halftime Thursday night, but couldn't overcome a slow start to the second half and saw its eight-game home winning streak come to an end with an 89-80 Great Lakes Valley Conference loss at Gibson Arena.
The Miners (11-7, 5-5 GLVC) trailed by nine right out of the gate on Thursday, but rallied back and took their first lead at 15-14 following a three-point basket by
Micah Johnson (Ankeny, IA/Centennial). The teams swapped the lead a couple of times over the next five minutes, but S&T used a quick 5-0 burst to take the lead back with just over six minutes to play in the half following a putback by
Kaden Froebe (Lincoln, IL/Lincoln).
S&T built its lead to five after
Ikenna Okeke (Bolingbrook, IL/Romeoville) drained a three-pointer with 1:51 to play in the half, but the Bulldogs got a basket from Elijah Hazekamp just before the final buzzer sounded to get to within two at the intermission.
After getting that basket before halftime, Truman (8-10, 3-7 GLVC) opened the second half on an 8-0 run and took the lead at 45-42 on a three-pointer by Trey Shearer. The Bulldogs would never trail again and had the lead out to 12 after another 8-0 run that was capped by another trey from Brandon Knacht.
The Miners began clawing back into the contest and got the margin down to three at 71-68 after
Julien Smith (Fort Worth, TX/Northwest) drained a three-pointer out of the corner with 7:15 to go. However, Hunter Strait scored on a driving layup on Truman's next trip down the floor, then a steal and dunk by Dylan Peeters extended Truman's lead back to seven.
S&T had the margin down to four twice in the final minutes, first at 75-71 and again at 84-80 following a three-point play by Okeke with 1:07 left, but the Bulldogs made five-of-six at the line in the final 50 seconds to wrap up the contest.
The Miners made 12 three-pointers in the contest, but shot only 44.9 percent from the floor on the night.
Okeke led four Miners in double figures with 22 points, while
Lovell Williams (Rogers, MN/Maple Grove) ended up with 17 and seven assists and Johnson added 14. Smith was the fourth Miner in double figures with 12 points.
Strait led Truman with 24 points and Hazekamp finished with 21 as the Bulldogs shot 53.6 percent from the field in the second half.
Missouri S&T will play its next two games away from home, beginning with Saturday's 3 p.m. tilt at Quincy. The Hawks dropped out of a share of the GLVC lead Thursday after losing 80-69 at Missouri-St. Louis.
