The Miners won for the third straight time to start the 2010-11 season, marking the first time S&T has been 3-0 to open a year since going 6-0 to begin the 2003-04 campaign.
Southwest Baptist, a team that relies heavily on its three-point shooting, opened the game by hitting four of its first five attempts from beyond the arc. The Bearcats built their lead to as many as 13 points by the 7:33 mark of the first half after a three-pointer by Nick James and a lay-in moments later by Robson Memnon.
S&T came back as it scored eight of the next nine points - a pair of free throws by Carlton Westbrook cut the margin to six - then the Miners got the lead down to four on another free throw by Westbrook in the final seconds of the first half to trail just 39-35 at the break.
The Bearcats maintained their lead, however, in the early stages of the second half and increased it to seven after Jacob French hit the second of two free throws three minutes into the half. S&T started to chip away at the lead and took its first lead since the first basket of the game when Aaron Hays drilled a three-pointer with 11:58 to go to give the Miners a 56-54 lead.
SBU took the lead back at 58-56 before Hays made a putback of a Westbrook miss in the lane to tie the score again. The Bearcats took the lead back on their next possession when Zach Kleine hit a three-pointer out of the corner, but that would turn out to be the last long range basket SBU would make Thursday.
Tommy Pelczynski scored on a jumper in the lane to trim the lead to one, then Mike Malat hit a trey on S&T's next trip to put the Miners back in front 63-61. SBU would take its final lead of the game when Tomas Brock hit the first of two free throws, only to have Kurt Koenig tip in the missed second attempt with 3:49 to go to put the Bearcats up by a point.
Maurice Grinter, who had a monster game for the Miners, put S&T up for good at 65-64 with a pair of free throws at the 3:30 mark. The Miners followed by forcing a turnover, then got two offensive rebounds to sustain a possession that ended with a Bryce Foster jumper. SBU scored quickly after the Foster basket when Memnon drove all the way to the basket, but Hays did the same at the opposite end eight seconds later to bring the Miner lead back to three.
S&T survived a sequence after the Hays basket as the Bearcats missed four attempts from long range to tie the game. Hays hit a pair of free throws with 36 seconds to play to extend the margin to five and Pelczynski followed with two more at the line with 24 seconds showing on the clock to give S&T its biggest lead of the night of seven at 73-66.
Grinter led the Miners with 19 points and added 17 rebounds, two blocked shots and two steals in the win. Pelczynski added 16 points and Hays 14, one shy of his career high. Westbrook also reached double figures with 10 points.
The Miners shot only 39.3 percent from the floor, but held SBU (0-3) to 35.3 percent shooting on the night and outrebounded the guests 50-42.
Missouri S&T heads to the road for the first time in the regular season on Tuesday when it faces future Great Lakes Valley Conference member William Jewell in Liberty, Mo. Game time will be at 7:30 p.m.
No comments:
Post a Comment