BOLIVAR, Mo. – Missouri S&T ran off 16 straight points midway through the first half to take control and then finished off Southwest Baptist with another run during the second half to get back into the win column in Great Lakes Valley Conference play, knocking off SBU 78-59 Thursday at the Meyer Sports Center.
Trailing 13-11 with under 12 minutes remaining in the opening half,
Lovell Williams (Rogers, MN/Maple Grove) made a steal and finished with a dunk to tie the game and spark the run in the process.
Alex Benassi (Lee's Summit, MO/Lee's Summit) then scored the next 10 points for the Miners, beginning with a three-pointer at the 10:21 mark and followed that up with a conventional three-point and two more baskets that put the Miners up 23-13 with 7:01 to go in the half.
S&T continued the run on baskets by
Andrew Young (Ballwin, MO/Marquette) and
Ikenna Okeke (Bolingbrook, IL/Romeoville) before a basket by Ryan Stevenson ended the Miners' longest scoring run of the season.
The Miners (9-4, 3-3 GLVC) would get another basket by Young as the first half ended to take a 15-point lead to the locker room, only to see the Bearcats (5-9, 1-5 GLVC) score the first nine points of the second half to get to within six. However,
Julien Smith (Fort Worth, TX/Northwest) halted the run with his first points of the night when he hit a three-pointer to extend the margin back to nine.
SBU got to within seven at 47-40 with 13 minutes to go, but the Miners began to push their lead back out as they scored seven straight to go back up by 14 and kept it in double figures for the remainder of the night, leading by as much as 22 in the final moments to pick up their first win at SBU since 2004.
Benassi scored a career-high 20 points to pace the Miners, while
Kaden Froebe (Lincoln, IL/Lincoln) had 15 and Smith and Young had 11 apiece. The Miners shot 54.2 percent in the game, including a 59.3 percent mark in the second half as they pulled away on the scoreboard.
Drenin Dinkins led the Bearcats with 17 points, but S&T held SBU to 37 percent mark from the field in the contest.
Missouri S&T will face Drury Saturday at 1 p.m. in Springfield, Mo.
