ROLLA, Mo. – After making a run to take a six-point lead in the first half Saturday afternoon, things went south for Missouri S&T's men's basketball team as cold shooting doomed the Miners in an 86-59 Great Lakes Valley Conference loss to Southwest Baptist at Gibson Arena.
S&T (13-10, 7-8 GLVC) used an 8-0 run near the midway point of the first half and took a 19-13 lead on a three-pointer by
Julien Smith (Fort Worth, TX/Northwest) that prompted an SBU timeout. Out of the stoppage, the Bearcats (15-7, 7-7 GLVC) ran off seven straight points to take the lead and after
Lovell Williams (Rogers, MN/Maple Grove) hit two free throws to put the Miners back in front, SBU made another 7-0 run and never trailed again.
Drenin Dinkins' three-point basket capped the second 7-0 spurt, only to see S&T cut that lead to two after Williams tallied four more points on a floater in the lane and two more free throws. But after the two foul shots at the 6:10 mark that cut the SBU lead to 27-25, Mitch Ganote scored on a put-back of his own miss to start another run for the Bearcats, this one covering eight points to give them a 10-point lead with just over five minutes left in the half.
The Miners had a couple of moments late in the first half that appeared could spark them going into the second half, first a follow dunk by
Alex Benassi (Lee's Summit, MO/Lee's Summit) and then a lay-up by fellow freshman
Andrew Young (Ballwin, MO/Marquette) right before the half ended that cut the SBU lead to 42-32 at the break.
Those hopes faded in the early minutes in the second half as after the Miners had the margin at nine after a three-point basket by
Ikenna Okeke (Bolingbrook, IL/Romeoville), the Bearcats ran off 23 of the next 28 points over a span of nearly six minutes to take a 27-point advantage.
The Miners opened the game by making eight of their first 12 shots from the field, but made only 12-of-41 after that and finished the afternoon by shooting just 37.7 percent from the field. Williams was the only Miner to reach double figures as he wound up with 23 points.
SBU had four players in double figures, paced by RJ Crawford with 16 points and Ganote and Dinkins with 15 apiece. The Bearcats also outrebounded the Miners by a 42-28 margin.
Missouri S&T will wrap up its four-game homestand Thursday when it hosts Missouri-St. Louis at 7:30 p.m. at Gibson Arena.
