ROLLA, Mo. – A late first half run allowed Missouri S&T's men's basketball team to break away from Quincy Thursday night, as the Miners defeated the Hawks 87-67 at Gibson Arena in the Great Lakes Valley Conference opener for both teams.
The Miners (4-1, 1-0 GLVC) trailed 23-21 after an Ibrahim Drame lay-in at the 8:37 mark of the first half, but outscored Quincy 30-10 over the remainder of the half to take an 18-point lead to the locker room. The run started on a three-pointer by
Lovell Williams (Rogers, MN/Maple Grove) to put S&T into the lead. That basket began a 8-0 run that was paused by a Zion Richardson basket that made it a four-point game, but S&T exploded from long range to break the contest open.
Back-to-back three-point baskets by
Julien Smith (Fort Worth, TX/Northwest) and Williams extended the lead to 10 to bring about a Quincy timeout, then following a quick five-point burst by the Hawks, S&T ripped off 11 straight points to go up by 16 after
Kaden Froebe (Lincoln, IL/Lincoln) drained a three-pointer.
Alex Benassi (Lee's Summit, MO/Lee's Summit) capped the first half surge with a three-pointer right before the buzzer sounded to give the Miners an 18-point lead at the break.
The Miners shot 47.4 percent in the first half, then held Quincy below 40 percent from the field over the final 20 minutes as they built a lead of much as 26 with just over seven minutes remaining.
Smith led the Miners with 18 points on the night, while Williams added 17 points and six rebounds and
Ikenna Okeke (Bolingbrook, IL/Romeoville) was also in double figures with 15. Williams' 17 points in the game allowed him to surpass the 1,000-point mark as a collegiate player, as he recorded 547 points in two seasons at Wisconsin-Stout and has now scored 464 in just over a season at S&T.
The Miners also made 14 steals in the game, five by
Andrew Young (Ballwin, MO/Marquette) and three by Williams.
Isaiah Foster led the Hawks (3-4, 0-1 GLVC) with 17 points.
Missouri S&T will have an early showdown in GLVC play on Saturday as it takes on Illinois Springfield in a 3 p.m. contest at Gibson Arena.
