Yamani Ball

The Miners had a difficult time in containing David Ward in the second half Saturday afternoon. And when it came to winning time at the end of the game, it was Ward who came up with the game-winning play.

The Missouri-St. Louis forward scored 18 of his 23 points in the second half, including a go-ahead layup with 1.8 seconds to go, to send the Miners to a 78-76 loss on Fort Leonard Wood Appreciation Day at the Bullman Multi-Purpose Building. The loss dropped the Miners to 2-9 in Great Lakes Valley Conference play and 7-12 overall.

Buoyed by the largest home crowd of the season, the Miners came out flying Saturday as they raced to a 29-12 lead just over ten minutes into play. Yamani Ball's fast break layup at the 9:56 mark gave UMR a 17-point lead as it made 12 of its first 21 shots of the game.

However, the Rivermen rebounded from that early run and scored 11 straight points to get to within six, then drew to as close as one before the half ended. A basket by Ball with 44 seconds left in the half gave the Miners a 36-32 lead at the intermission.

UMR sustained that lead for much of the second half, going up by as many as nine at 66-57 on two free throws by Tyrone Davidson with 6:43 left. But a 13-0 run by the Rivermen put the Miners into a deficit for the first time in the game.

Ward hit two free throws with 4:06 left to tie and then give the Rivermen their first lead at 67-66, then a three-pointer by Brett Ledbetter on UMSL's next trip made it a four-point game. Later in the stretch run, Ledbetter made two free throws with 1:37 to go to make the score 74-70 before the Miners staged a rally to tie it.

UMSL had the four-point lead and the ball, but Owain Hall made a steal and was fouled going down the floor; the foul was ruled as intentional and Hall made both free throws to cut the lead in half. But moments later, Octavious Hawkins made a steal and a breakaway dunk to make it 76-72.

The Miners came right back as Shea Wiemann hit a driving layup and was fouled. Wiemann missed the ensuing free throw and Ward got the board for UMSL, but missed the front end of a one-and-one . The Miners came down quickly and Ball hit a short jumper in the lane to tie it with 24 seconds on the clock.

With the shot clock turned off, the Rivermen (8-10, 3-7 GLVC) played for the last shot and Ledbetter, who had 13 of his 18 points after halftime, drove into the lane and dumped it off to an open Ward for the game-winner with 1.8 seconds to play.

Ball finished the game by tying his career high with 25 points, while Davidson had 15 points and Hall had 14. UMR had only nine turnovers in the game, but shot just 40 percent (to UMSL's 50 percent) and were outrebounded by a 44-33 margin.

UMR will open a three-game stretch away from home Thursday at Kentucky Wesleyan. Game time will be at 7:30 p.m. in Owensboro, Ky.