ROLLA, MO  --  Despite a resilient second-half surge and a dominant scoring performance from Andrew Young (Ballwin, MO/Marquette), the Miners dropped a 91-83 game to the Drury Panthers on Saturday afternoon in Gibson Arena. The Miners showcased their offensive firepower in the second half, but a significant rebounding deficit proved too much to overcome.

Andrew Young (Ballwin, MO/Marquette) and Alex Benassi's (Lee's Summit, MO/Lee's Summit) early layups opened the scoring for the Miners, but Drury pulled ahead 13-10 after a triple from Luke Stubbs and a layup by Keshaun Thomas. Blaise Beauchamp (Minnetonka, MN/Hopkins) hit a three to tie the game but a triple from Drury's Colin Hardrick quickly put the visitors ahead again. The tie was the first of four in the next two minutes, with the Panthers finally pulling ahead 25-20.

The Panthers pushed their lead to as many as eight in the back half of the first, but a jumper by Garrett Hines (Nixa, MO/Nixa) and a three from Young cut the deficit back down to three. Hines added a three of his own next, but the Panthers pulled away in the final minutes of the half, going into the locker room ahead 44-35.

Drury had a hot start to the second half, scoring six unanswered to extend their lead to fifteen. Alex Benassi (Lee's Summit, MO/Lee's Summit) hit a three and Young scored on a couple of layups to help the Miners make it a seven-point game at 53-46.

The Panthers surged ahead to a double digit lead again but the Miners reeled them back in with a 6-0 run. The Miners kept it a two possession game for the next few minutes but two three-pointers by Drury's Zach Howell put them ahead by double digits again. Young hit a pair of threes in the final minutes of the game, helping the Miners cut the deficit to four on multiple occasions, but ultimately failing to close the gap and falling 91-83.

Young shot 11-of-16 from the field, scoring 27 points with 5 rebounds and 2 steals. Benassi went 7-for-12 and had 17, tying with Cameron Stovall (St. Louis, MO/Vashon) for the most rebounds at six. Rebounding was struggle for the Miners, being outrebounded 48-33 by the Panthers.

What's Next
S&T has earned the 5-seed in the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament and will face #4 Indianapolis on Friday at 5:30pm on the campus of Missouri-St. Louis.

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