ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T's men's basketball team used a pair of double-digit runs in the first half to break free from visiting Manhattan Christian Tuesday night and continued to build on that advantage to dispatch the Thunder 94-54 in its home opener at Gibson Arena.
The Thunder (1-4) kept the game close over the first half and had a 12-11 lead after a basket by Jaxon Hurla at the 14:42 mark. But S&T (3-0) got the lead back 12 seconds on a short jumper by
Lovell Williams (Rogers, MN/Maple Grove) and never looked back as it stayed undefeated with its third victory in a span of four days.
Williams' basket started an 11-point run for the Miners that gave them a 22-12 lead, then after a Cody Mericle basket stopped that string of points, S&T got two free throws from
Cameron Stovall (St. Louis, MO/Vashon) to start another 13-point burst that saw them holding a 35-14 advantage by the time the smoke cleared at the 6:53 mark of the half.
The Miners got the home crowd excited a short time later with a pair of alley-oop dunks, the first by
Ikenna Okeke (Bolingbrook, IL/Romeoville) off an assist from Williams and the other when Williams sent a pass ahead to
Alex Benassi (Lee's Summit, MO/Lee's Summit) for a dunk.
S&T shot 50 percent in the first half and finished at 48.6 percent in a contest where all 15 players in uniform saw playing time.
Okeke led the Miners with his second career double-double as he finished with a game-high 23 points and 13 rebounds, while
Julien Smith (Fort Worth, TX/Northwest) finished with 14 and Stovall had his first double figure outing with 10 points and also added nine rebounds. The Miners had a 60-40 advantage on the boards as they held Manhattan Christian to 28.2 percent shooting.
Williams finished the contest with a season-high nine assists.
Jamie Juncal had 18 points to pace the Thunder on Tuesday.
Missouri S&T will take on Central Missouri Saturday in a 7 p.m. contest in Warrensburg, Mo.
