ROLLA, Mo. – Time and time again Saturday afternoon, Missouri S&T's men's basketball team had an opportunity to get the lead against Illinois Springfield at Gibson Arena, but was never able to gain an advantage as the Prairie Stars came away with an 83-75 victory in the Great Lakes Valley Conference contest.
After trailing by as much as 12 early in the second half, the Miners (4-2, 1-1 GLVC) fought back and caught the Prairie Stars at 61 with 7:38 remaining. The game was also tied at 67 and 69, but a 10-0 run by UIS (6-3, 2-0 GLVC) after the final media timeout was enough to send the Miners to defeat at home for the first time this season.
The Prairie Stars jumped out to an 11-2 lead at the outset of the contest and led by as much as 10 less than five minutes into the game, but the Miners began to work their way back into it with a 9-0 run that was capped by a three-point play by
Julien Smith (Fort Worth, TX/Northwest) at the 12:15 mark.
UIS pushed its lead out to seven again a short time later, only to see S&T get to within a point again after
Lovell Williams (Rogers, MN/Maple Grove) scored on a fast break with 5:25 to go in the half. Williams scored again about two and one-half minutes later to get the margin down to one again before UIS ran off seven straight points to take an eight-point lead, the margin it would take to the intermission.
The Prairie Stars extended their lead to 12 early in the second half before the Miners started chipping into the margin. S&T got a pair of three-pointers from
Julien Smith (Fort Worth, TX/Northwest) as part of a 7-0 run to get the lead down to three, then was trimmed to one following an
Andrew Young (Ballwin, MO/Marquette) basket after an offensive rebound. The Miners tied the game with 7:38 left when
Ikenna Okeke (Bolingbrook, IL/Romeoville) made one-of-two at the line, only to see Jordan Rice score at the other end to put UIS back in front.
The Miners knotted the score at 67 on a fast break basket by Williams, then
Kaden Froebe (Lincoln, IL/Lincoln) answered a Rice basket with one of his own in the lane to even things at 69. But after the media timeout with 2:52 left, Jack Weber hit two free throws to start the fateful 10-0 run by the Prairie Stars as the Miners missed four straight shots and UIS scored after each of those misses.
S&T had four players in double figures, led by Williams with 21 points and six assists, while Smith ended with 14 and Froebe and Young with 14 apiece. The Miners shot 46 percent for the game, but were hurt in the interior by the Prairie Stars as they finished at 56.9 percent from the floor and scored 50 points in the paint. S&T was also outrebounded by a 39-24 margin on the afternoon.
Rice led UIS with 21 points and Jacob Hanna added 19.
The Miners will return to play Tuesday with a non-conference game against Baptist Bible beginning at 7:30 p.m. at Gibson Arena.
