ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T's men's basketball team worked its way back into the win column Thursday night, holding off Drury's second half rally effort as it came away with an 81-73 Great Lakes Valley Conference victory at Gibson Arena.
The Miners led by nine at halftime and by 11 after a
Julien Smith (Fort Worth, TX/Northwest) basket early in the second half and even though they never lost the lead at any point over the final 20 minutes, saw the Panthers get the lead down to one on three different occasions before scoring the final seven points to close out the victory.
S&T (13-9, 7-7 GLVC) and Drury (7-15, 3-11 GLVC) played on even terms for the better part of the first 16 minutes as the teams swapped the lead five times. The last of those lead changes went in S&T's favor as the Miners went up 29-28 after a driving layup by
Dylan Singleton (Lincoln, IL/Lincoln). That basket started the Miners' longest run of the opening half, as they scored nine straight and held a 36-28 lead following a lay-in by
Alex Benassi (Lee's Summit, MO/Lee's Summit).
The Miners scored 12 of the final 14 points of the opening half, as after Brady O'Connell stopped the nine-point run with a pair of free throws,
Julien Smith (Fort Worth, TX/Northwest) knocked down a three-pointer before the buzzer sounded to give S&T a 39-30 lead at the intermission.
Smith scored again early in the second half to push the Miner advantage into double figures for the first time – and what turned out to be the only time – in the game before the Panthers scored six straight points to get right back into the game. The Miners were able to push the lead back to nine a couple of times, but Drury kept hanging in the game and trimmed the margin down to four after a Logan Applegate three-point play.
S&T was able to regain its nine-point lead on a layup by Benassi at the 11:54 mark, but Drury outscored the Miners 12-4 over the next three minutes and got to within one after Brock Wakefield drained a three-pointer out of the corner.
Andrew Young (Ballwin, MO/Marquette) answered with a dunk that extended the S&T back to three, but the Panthers cut it right back to one on another basket by Wakefield moments later.
But on S&T's next trip down the floor,
Ikenna Okeke (Bolingbrook, IL/Romeoville) recorded a conventional three-point play to push the lead back to four. Drury got the lead down to a point one more time after a lay-in by Wakefield with 3:25 to play and had a possession with a chance to take the lead after an S&T turnover. However, Benassi made a steal and scored to extend the lead back to three as the Panthers went cold down the stretch.
Drury missed its final eight shots from the field after the Benassi steal and basket, as the Miners finally pulled away as
Lovell Williams (Rogers, MN/Maple Grove) hit a short jumper to put S&T up by five, then with under a minute to play, fed Okeke on an alley-oop dunk that resulted in another three-point play to put the game away.
Okeke scored 16 of his team-high 22 points to lead the way, while Smith finished the night with 17 points and Young added 12. As was the case in the first meeting with the Panthers in Springfield, which the Miners won in November, S&T shot better than 60 percent in the second half (62.1 percent) and finished the evening at 56.5 percent from the floor.
The Panthers, who finished with a 50.9 percent mark from the floor but who made just five three-point baskets – about one-half of their average per game this season – got 22 points from Riley Naeger and 12 from Wakefield.
Missouri S&T will host Southwest Baptist Saturday on Military Appreciation Day at Gibson Arena as all military members – active or retired – and their immediate families will be admitted free to the games. Saturday's game is scheduled to begin at 3 p.m.
