ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T's men's basketball team trailed by as many as 17 points in the first half … by 16 at the intermission … by 10 with four minutes remaining … but scored the final nine points in the last 1:31 of the contest to stun Missouri-St. Louis Thursday night at Gibson Arena, winning the game 76-75 on a lay-in by
Lovell Williams (Rogers, MN/Maple Grove) with 1.5 seconds remaining.
Williams went the length of the floor after securing a rebound off a miss by UMSL's Donovan Vickers and as he got near the three-point line, saw the path to the basket open up and he made an uncontested layup to give the Miners their first lead since the early stages of the game. UMSL tried to throw the inbounds pass up the floor after a timeout that followed the basket, but
Kaden Froebe (Lincoln, IL/Lincoln) batted the pass into the backcourt and the clock expired.
The Miners (14-10, 8-8 Great Lakes Valley Conference) trailed 48-32 at halftime, following a first 20 minutes that saw the Tritons (18-6, 10-6 GLVC) go 11-of-15 from three-point range. The Miners hit eight three-pointers themselves in the first half, but UMSL hit five in a row from beyond the arc in one stretch to turn a one-point S&T lead into a 16-point deficit in a span of just over five minutes.
But when the second half got underway, the Miners held UMSL scoreless for the first four-plus minutes and scored the first nine points to cut the Triton lead to seven. A lay-in by Froebe made it a seven-point game, then S&T got it down to five on another basket by Froebe at the 12:08 mark.
With 7:42 to go,
Andrew Young (Ballwin, MO/Marquette) drained a three-pointer to trim the UMSL lead to four, but S&T couldn't get any closer over the next several minutes and the Tritons got their advantage back to double figures with just over four minutes to go after Vickers knocked down a three-pointer – but the Miners wouldn't go away.
Julien Smith (Fort Worth, TX/Northwest), who scored 14 of his game-high 20 points in the second half, hit a turnaround jumper with 1:55 left to cut the lead to 73-67, but UMSL's Matt Enright sank two free throws at the 1:38 mark to make it an eight-point game again. Froebe scored at the other end just seven seconds later and was fouled on the play, but after missing the free throw, the ball went out of bounds to the Miners. Moments later, Smith drilled a long three-pointer to cut the lead to 75-72.
After a missed shot by Vickers with the shot clock winding down,
Dylan Singleton (Lincoln, IL/Lincoln) drove to the basket and missed the shot, but Froebe scored on a put-back to cut the lead to one with 33 seconds to go. The Tritons tried to use most of the clock, but Vickers missed a foul line jumper and Williams grabbed the board and raced up the floor until getting the opening to the basket for the game-winner.
The Miners shot 60.7 percent in the second half – their eighth half of the season in which they have reached the 60 percent mark – and finished at 50 percent for the game. They had four players in double figures, as Smith was joined by
Ikenna Okeke (Bolingbrook, IL/Romeoville) with 15 points, Williams with 13 and Froebe with 11.
UMSL, who followed up a first half in which it shot 56.3 percent by making only 34.5 percent of its field goal attempts in the second half, had four in double figures as well as it was led by Trever Moore with 17 points and Vickers with 16.
Missouri S&T will be idle until next Thursday when it will face McKendree in Lebanon, Ill. Game time is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
