LEBANON, Ill. – Missouri S&T's men's basketball team picked up a hard-fought win Saturday afternoon, outlasting McKendree 75-73 in Great Lakes Valley Conference play at the Melvin Price Convocation Center.
With the game tied at 66,
Andrew Young (Ballwin, MO/Marquette) drained a three-pointer with 2:24 remaining to put the Miners up for good in a game where neither team led by more than six points. McKendree cut the S&T lead to one after the Young trey, but
Ikenna Okeke (Bolingbrook, IL/Romeoville) knocked down a three on the Miners' next trip down the floor to extend the margin to four.
Caleb Zurliene scored for the Bearcats with 38 seconds to play to make it a two-point game, but with the shot clock winding down,
Lovell Williams (Rogers, MN/Maple Grove) drove to the basket and scored to make it a 74-70 game with 10 seconds remaining. McKendree cut it to one when Kevin Stein hit a long three-pointer, but
Julien Smith (Fort Worth, TX/Northwest) made the first of two free throws and the Bearcats were unable to get a shot off before the final buzzer sounded.
The first half was a back-and-forth affair with four lead changes and four ties. McKendree (10-8, 4-7 GLVC) led 20-14, but S&T stayed close and eventually tied the contest at 29 after a three-point play by Williams. The Bearcats got the lead back and maintained it to the intermission – leading 34-33 at the break – but the Miners (10-8, 4-7 GLVC) came flying out of the gate in the second half by scoring the first four points to retake the lead.
S&T went in front on a basket by Williams on its first possession of the second half, then Okeke scored at the other end after a McKendree turnover to put the Miners up by three. After Stein tied the game with a three-pointer, the game became a battle for the rest of the half as the lead changed hands seven times along the way over the final 18 minutes.
Okeke led four Miners in double figures with 22 points, while
Kaden Froebe (Lincoln, IL/Lincoln) finished 16, Williams with 15 and Young with 14 on the afternoon. S&T shot just 43.1 percent from the field in the game to McKendree's 50 percent mark, but hit 47.1 percent of its attempts in the second half and also finished the game with only six turnovers to the Bearcats' 18.
McKendree also had four players in double figures, led by Carson Parker with 15 points.
Missouri S&T will host Indianapolis Thursday at Gibson Arena with the tip-off scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
