LEBANON, Ill. – The men's basketball team stuck around for a fight but ultimately fell against No.9 Missouri S&T in Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) action on Saturday, January 25th at the Harry M. Statham Sports Center in Lebanon, Illinois. 

Score: McKendree University 69, Missouri S&T 84 

Record: Bearcats 8-10, 5-6 GLVC | Miners 16-1, 10-0 GLVC 

HOW IT HAPPENED

McKendree sophomore guard Luka Mateski (Belgrade, Serbia) kicked things off with a corner three-point shot that rolled around the rim before dropping in. Yet, Missouri S&T would follow on an 11-2 run to swing things well into their favor just minutes into action. Mateski would answer with confidence by cashing in a three-point play from a forceful layup and another shot from beyond the arc to tie it up at 11 a-piece. The Miners would tack on 16 points in the next three minutes of play to up their lead to seven before Mateski drove inside for the easy lay-in as his teammate in freshman forward in Rini Harris knocked down a three-ball of his own to cut their deficit to just two, 25-27. 

Both teams went back-and-forth at each other in trading buckets until the horn sounded for halftime where the Miners would hold on to their lead with a 48-40 edge. Mateski ended half number one with 12 points and his running mate, senior guard Kevin Stein (Chester, N.Y.) had 14. Sophomore forward Cameron Stovall led Missouri S&T with 13 points in the first 20 minutes of play. 

An 18-13 run by the Bearcats that was capped of by back-to-back three-pointers from Stein and junior guard Cha'Vez Woods (Louisville, Ky.), plus a layup from senior guard Joey Niesman (Oswego, Ill.), brought the squad to within three at 58-61 with a little over eight minutes remaining. 

A few moments later, the McKendree guards would start to feed junior forward Noah Franklin inside the post where he made a pair of consecutive lay-ins to put his team down by just a single point. However, the Miners would show why they are a top-10 team in the country as they rallied on a 16-3 run in the following several minutes to put themselves up by 14. Stein notched in four more points for his Bearcat squad with a minute and a half remaining, but it would not be enough as Missouri S&T would escape with an 84-69 victory. 

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

• Stein has led his team in scoring for a third consecutive game with 24 points in this afternoon's game as he was 8-16 from the floor, 3-5 from deep and 5-6 from the line. He also tallied four assists and a trio of steals. 

• Mateski finished with 14 points, as he went 5-9 from the floor and 2-4 from three. He also grabbed six rebounds plus an assist and a block. 

• Niesman and Woods rounded out with 11 points each, as the former tied his career-high with nine rebounds. 

• Stoval led the way for Missouri S&T, as he finished with 16 points on 6-9 shooting, including 1-2 from deep and 3-4 from the charity stripe plus seven boards. Senior guard Lovell Williams and junior forward Andrew Young came close behind with 14 points each as Young grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds. 

• McKendree shot 42.4% from the field, 32.0% from distance, and 78.6% from the stripe while the Miners ended with 48.4%, 37.5%, and 81.8% respectively. 

• Missouri S&T was +17 in points off of turnovers, +15 in bench points, +4 in points in the paint, +2 in second-chance points, and +6 in fast break points. 

UP NEXT

McKendree will be back on the court on Thursday, January 30th when they go on the road to St. Louis, Missouri, to take on Maryville University at the Moloney Arena with tip-off set for 7:30 PM CT. 

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