Justin Taylor

For a time Tuesday night, it appeared that the Miner basketball team was poised to break into the win column in Great Lakes Valley Conference play, as they had a seven-point halftime lead over Missouri-St. Louis and a 10-point advantage with 13:29 to go.

But a victory wasn't in the cards for the Miners, as the Tritons erased that deficit and held off Missouri S&T's last-ditch effort to leave the Bullman Multi-Purpose Building with a 74-71 win in S&T's final home game of the 2007-08 season.

The Miners made an 11-4 run to end the first half with a 42-35 lead, shooting 51.6 percent from the floor in the opening half and connecting on six-of-11 from three-point range. After UMSL closed the gap to one early in the second half, S&T built its lead back up again and moved ahead 52-43 when Justin Taylor zipped a pass to Curtis Mosley in the corner for a three-pointer.

Moments later, Aaron Hays hit the first of two free throws to give S&T its biggest lead of 10 at 53-43 with 13:29 to go, but the Tritons answered by scoring nine points over the next 1:44 to draw to within one. UMSL eventually got the lead back on Nathan Whittaker's driving layup with 9:03 to go to make it 58-57.

S&T drew even again at 61 on a lay-in by Mosley with 6:08 to go, then got even again at 67 when Taylor hit a pair of free throws at the 2:20 mark. However, Whittaker knocked down a three from the wing 24 seconds later to put UMSL up for good.

The Miners had one last chance to tie the game after Tim Green made one of two at the line with 13 seconds to play, but Taylor's three-point try was off the mark in the final moments.

Taylor led the Miners with 20 points, while Mosley finished with 18 and Taurance Townsel with 11. S&T shot 44.1 percent from the floor in the game, but made only 36 percent in the second half and just one three-pointer in 12 tries.

The Tritons, who were playing their third road game in four days, were led by Paul Paradoski with 22 points.

Missouri S&T will close its season Thursday with a 7:30 p.m. game against Southern Indiana in Evansville, Ind.

(Photo by Seth Sowers, Rolla Daily News)