WISCONSIN DELLS, Wis. – For the second time in as many days, Missouri S&T's men's basketball used a big second half run to propel it to a victory as the Miners defeated Northern Michigan 76-70 Sunday to complete a perfect weekend at the JustAGame Classic.
The Miners (2-0) trailed 56-44 after a Sam Privet three-point basket with 12:44 remaining, but proceeded to outscore the Wildcats (2-2) 21-2 over the next seven and one-half minutes to take the lead and control of the contest to pick up a second in-region victory on the opening weekend of action.
S&T scored 14 straight points at the front end of the run to take the lead, starting with a three-point basket by
Lovell Williams (Rogers, MN/Maple Grove) on the next possession after Privet's three. Williams scored on three straight S&T possessions a short time later to draw the Miners to within three, then
Kaden Froebe (Lincoln, IL/Lincoln) got the rebound of a Max Weisbrod miss and went the length of the floor to make it a one-point game.
Nearly two minutes later,
Julien Smith (Fort Worth, TX/Northwest) – who scored 13 of his team-leading 22 points in the second half – banged in a three-pointer to give S&T its first lead since it led 15-13 in the opening half.
Northern Michigan tied the game on a Sam Schultz lay-in, but Smith drove to the basket and scored to put the Miners in the lead for good. S&T scored the next five after that basket – a Smith three-pointer and two free throws by
Ikenna Okeke (Bolingbrook, IL/Romeoville) – to build a seven-point lead.
The Wildcats got the lead down to four twice, but the Miners got a three from
Andrew Young (Ballwin, MO/Marquette) to push the lead out the first time and a basket from Smith off an inbounds pass with 27 seconds to go to make it a six-point game.
S&T shot just 27.3 percent in the first half and trailed by as many as 12 points during the first 20 minutes of play. NMU outscored the Miners 15-3 after S&T had its two-point lead to go up by 12 and led 42-32 at the intermission. Northern Michigan had two 12-point leads in the second half.
The Miners had four players in double figures, as Okeke had 19 points, Williams 15 and Young 10 to go along with Smith's 22. S&T shot 57.1 percent in the second half and connected on six-of-10 from three-point range, while holding the Wildcats to a 31.4 percent shooting mark after the intermission.
S&T also had a 42-31 advantage on the boards, including a 20-12 margin in the second half, as Young and Okeke had nine rebounds apiece. Williams also dished out seven assists for the Miners.
Carson Smith led Northern Michigan, who reached the semifinals of the NCAA Division II Midwest Regional last season, with 22 points and Weisbrod had 19. Northern finished the game with a 38.4 percent shooting mark from the floor.
Missouri S&T will open its home schedule Tuesday with a 7 p.m. contest against Manhattan Christian at Gibson Arena.
