ROLLA, MO -- Missouri S&T showed poise in a tight battle against Truman State on Sunday afternoon, defending their lead late to improve to 10-2. The win also pushes the Miners to 4-1 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference, putting them just one game behind conference leaders Upper Iowa and Illinois Springfield who are both 5-0.
The Miners' defense was stifling early, holding Truman scoreless for the first six and a half minutes of the game while the Miners pulled ahead to a 10-0 lead. Three minutes after their first points of the contest, the Bulldogs had cut the Miners lead in half at 14-9, but a layup from
Zac Brown (Collinsville, OK/Collinsville) followed by a quick steal and two-point jumper from
Darron Henry (Long Beach, CA/Long Beach Poly) slowed the visitors.
Truman's Julian Brown hit a three-pointer with 4:01 left in the first half, cutting the Miners' lead to just four. Young immediately answered with a triple of his own though on an assist from Brown. Young knocked another three just over a minute later, helping the Miners reclaim a 10-point advantage with a score of 43-33 at halftime.
An early three and an "and one" play by Truman started their second half strong, cutting S&T's lead to just two points in the opening minutes to create their smallest lead since 19:24 in the first. A three from Beauchamp gave S&T a six-point lead but was immediately answered with a three by Trumans' Drew Kingery to return the deficit to three.
With their lead down to five, the Miners hit a pair of triples in just 9 seconds after a quick steal by
Adam Rickman (Washington, MO/St. Francis Borgia). A timeout by Truman would allow the Bulldogs a chance to regroup. They responded with a couple of three-pointers in the following minutes to return the deficit to five, eventually drawing back within two at 70-68 and again at 73-71.
A pair of physical defensive possession by the Miners helped the hold the lead in the final minutes, with Young getting a block shortly before Beauchamp completed an "and one" play on the opposite end of the floor with 1:35 remaining. Truman's Julian Brown made a layup to make it a one possession game again with 80 seconds left, but
Alex Benassi (Lee's Summit, MO/Lee's Summit) would pick up an offensive rebound and add two more for S&T on a tough drive to the basket with 32 seconds left. Truman's Brown attempted a three on the other end but missed, leading to a Young rebound that resulted in a foul on the Bulldogs and a technical foul on Truman's coach. S&T made their free throws in the final minute to give them the 83-75 win.
S&T shot 53.3% from the field in the first half but connected on just 9-of-32 in the second to end the game with their worst field goal percentage of the season at 40.3%.
Blaise Beauchamp (Minnetonka, MN/Hopkins) and
Andrew Young (Ballwin, MO/Marquette) combined for 41 points, with Beauchamp recording a new season-high with 22 points. Young added two blocks and three steals, while Rickman recorded four steals.
What's Next
The Miners will travel to Springfield next Thursday for a game against Drury.
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