ROLLA, Mo. – Facing the nation's fourth-ranked team with a spot in the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament potentially on the line, Missouri S&T's men's basketball team fell short Saturday as Indianapolis handed the Miners a 78-65 loss at Gibson Arena.
The Greyhounds (25-3, 17-3 GLVC), who had an 18-game winning streak snapped on Thursday at Missouri-St. Louis but who had already clinched the regular season title and top seed for the tournament, hit nine three-pointers in the first half to build a 12-point lead and held the Miners (16-12, 10-10 GLVC) at bay in the second half as S&T's season came to a close.
S&T was even with UIndy on three different occasions early in the contest, the last at 16 following a three-point basket by
Julien Smith (Fort Worth, TX/Northwest) at the 10:14 mark. UIndy, however, took control as it scored 11 of the next 13 points and took a nine-point lead at 27-18 after a three by Ben Nicoson.
The Greyhounds extended that advantage into double figures about 90 seconds later on a lay-in by David Ejah and led by as much as 14 before taking a 42-30 lead to the locker room.
The Miners opened the second half by outscoring UIndy 14-6 and made a 7-0 run along the way, a run that began with two free throws from
Ikenna Okeke (Bolingbrook, IL/Romeoville), who followed that with another basket on S&T's next trip down the floor and was capped by a three-pointer by
Kaden Froebe (Lincoln, IL/Lincoln) that trimmed the Greyhound lead to four.
But out of a timeout, UIndy got a three-pointer from Bruno Williams and a basket from Jarvis Walker to quickly get the lead back to nine, then after a turnaround jumper by
Lovell Williams (Rogers, MN/Maple Grove), the Greyhounds rattled off nine more points in succession to take a 16-point lead just past the midway point of the second half.
S&T had the lead inside of 10 just once in the final nine minutes after a dunk by
Andrew Young (Ballwin, MO/Marquette) made it 67-59, but a three-pointer by Jesse Bingham and a fast-break lay-in by Josiah Tynes put to rest any late comeback hopes.
The Miners had three players finish in double figures, led by Okeke with 19 points. Froebe closed out the contest with 13 points, while Young ended up with 11.
Bingham led the Greyhounds' balanced scoring effort with 14 points, as UIndy shot 50 percent for the game to S&T's 41 percent and finished with 13 three-point baskets.
