ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T's men's basketball team got another big game from
Ikenna Okeke (Bolingbrook, IL/Romeoville) Saturday afternoon as it kept itself squarely in the Great Lakes Valley Conference playoff race by grinding out a 63-60 win over Southwest Baptist at Gibson Arena.
S&T was in a battle all afternoon with a Bearcat team that is currently sitting in last place in the GLVC, as it trailed by five at halftime and by as much as nine early in the second half. Down 42-33, the Miners (14-11, 8-10 GLVC) went on an 11-0 run to take their first lead since they were up 3-2 three minutes into the contest.
Okeke got the rally started with a conventional three-point play at the 16:42 mark, then a put-back by
Andrew Young (Ballwin, MO/Marquette) followed by an Okeke dunk cut the lead down to two. Young scored again off an offensive board to tie the score at 42, then completed the three-point play to put S&T in front.
However, the Bearcats (6-20, 2-16 GLVC) regained the lead on a three-point play by Jerry Abushanab and from that point, the teams swapped the lead over the next several minutes. S&T regained the advantage at 50-49 when
Kaden Froebe (Lincoln, IL/Lincoln) made one of two at the line, then Okeke scored on an alley-oop layup off an assist from
Lovell Williams (Rogers, MN/Maple Grove) to extend the lead to three.
After the teams made three more lead changes, S&T went up for good with 2:08 to go when Williams drained a three-pointer. SBU cut the lead to on its next trip down the floor on an Abushanab basket, but Okeke finished off his 26-point day with another three with just under a minute remaining.
The Miners kept the door open for the Bearcats in that final minute when they missed five consecutive free throws, but the Bearcats were unable to score over the 32 seconds and missed a pair of potential game-tying three-point shots in the final moments.
S&T shot 40.4 percent on the afternoon and made just five-of-20 from three-point range, but forced SBU into 22 turnovers that it turned into 24 points. Okeke was joined in double figures by
Julien Smith (Fort Worth, TX/Northwest), Williams and Young as all three finished with 10 points apiece.
Abushanab had 13 points to lead the Bearcats and Drew McMillin had 12, all on three-point baskets.
Saturday's game was also the final home game for four S&T seniors – Okeke, Smith,
Kaden Froebe (Lincoln, IL/Lincoln) and
Micah Johnson (Ankeny, IA/Centennial), who made up four-fifths of S&T's starting lineup.
Missouri S&T will head to the Kansas City area for its final two games of the season next week, beginning with a critical game Thursday at Rockhurst that will begin at 7:30 p.m. The Miners and Hawks are currently tied in the GLVC standings with both teams just outside the top eight in the Point Rating System standings.
