KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Last season,
Ikenna Okeke (Bolingbrook, IL/Romeoville) missed a three-pointer that would have sent Missouri S&T's game at Rockhurst into overtime, but instead the miss resulted in a three-point loss.
Thursday night, from almost the exact same spot on the floor, Okeke drilled a three-point shot with 2.1 seconds remaining to give the Miners a 78-75 victory to keep their flickering hopes alive to make the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament for another day.
Rockhurst (12-15, 8-11 GLVC) had taken a 75-74 lead on a short jumper by Brian Hawthorne with 1:37 remaining, then
Lovell Williams (Rogers, MN/Maple Grove) tied the game for the Miners (15-11, 9-10 GLVC) when he made the first of two free throws with 49 seconds on the clock. S&T got a defensive stop on a miss by Jake Auer and got the possession with 26 seconds left and the shot clock turned off.
Williams handled the ball in the front court until sending a pass over to Okeke on the wing by the Miner bench and hit the open three to put S&T in front. Rockhurst got a shot away at the buzzer from about 40 feet away that was well off the mark.
Thursday's game saw the Miners get out to a fast start as they led 10-3 after a
Julien Smith (Fort Worth, TX/Northwest) three-point basket at the 17:09 mark. The Miners would hold a six-point lead at 15-9 after a put-back by
Kaden Froebe (Lincoln, IL/Lincoln) nearly two minutes later, but Rockhurst got back in the game and took its first lead at 18-17 after an Auer three-pointer.
The opening half – which Rockhurst led 44-42 – saw seven lead changes and two ties, but the second half saw the lead swapped 11 times.
S&T got the first lead change of the second half after getting a basket from Okeke and a free throw from Smith to go up 45-44 and as the Hawks were struggling to score early in the second half, the Miners went up by as much as five after
Cameron Stovall (St. Louis, MO/Vashon) knocked down a perimeter jumper with just over 13 minutes to go.
However, the Hawks suddenly hit a hot streak as they scored on 10 of 11 possessions in one stretch and took a 64-59 lead on Nico Felici's jumper in the lane. S&T fought back and regained the advantage when
Andrew Young (Ballwin, MO/Marquette) hit a three at the 6:35 mark, then a three by Rockhurst's Nick Arensburg followed by one from Williams gave S&T a 70-69 lead with 5:25 to go.
After Felici hit two free throws with 3:31 remaining to give the Hawks a one-point lead, Smith drove to the basket on S&T's next trip down the floor to put the Miners up 74-73. That lead held up until the Hawthorne basket with 1:37 to play.
Smith led four Miners in double figures with 16 points, while Froebe had 15 to go along with 10 rebounds. S&T also got 13 apiece from Okeke and Young as it shot 47.5 percent from the field for the game and drained 11 three-pointers.
The Hawks, who came into the game leading the GLVC with 10.8 three-pointers per game, connected 12 times from long range. Four of the threes came from Hawthorne, who had a game-high 23 points.
Missouri S&T will close out its GLVC slate Saturday when it takes on William Jewell in a 3 p.m. contest in Liberty, Mo.
