JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. - In a back-and-forth game with nine lead changes and 10 ties, MIssouri S&T, ranked No. 8 in the National Association of Basketball Coaches' Division II poll, held off the Lincoln men's basketball team, 79-75, on Thursday night (Feb. 27).

The Blue Tigers had the lead for 24:35 of the contest while the Miners led for just 10:15. The difference in the contest was that Missouri S&T (23-3, 17-2 GLVC), which shot just .679 from the line, ended the game on a 5-0 run, with all five points coming on free throws. LU won the rebounding battles, 34-28, but was forced into 17 turnovers, which resulted in 20 points for the Miners.

Prior to the contest, a ceremony was held to honor Lincoln's three graduating players: Franck Yetna, Tyson Robinson and Caleb Wright. Yetna led LU on the evening with 17 points and grabbed six rebounds to go with a steal. Robinson finished the game with an assist.

Lincoln (20-8, 12-8 GLVC) opened the game on a 13-4 run, but the Miners rallied back to go ahead, 22-20, on a jumper with 8:32 until halftime. Missouri S&T eventually took a seven-point lead, but Malcolm Davis and Max Ekono made treys to start LU's comeback. Ekono finished with a double-double, recording 15 points, 10 rebounds, two steals, a block and an assist. Davis, meanwhile, had nine points, two boards, an assist and a steal.

With 1:19 left in the first half, Mikey West made a jumper to tie the game at 37, but a pair of free throws allowed Missouri S&T to go into the half ahead by two. In the second half, Lincoln used a 10-2 run, capped off with a jumper by Andreas Fuller, to take a 61-54 lead with 11:00 minutes remaining. The Blue Tigers kept the lead until there was 2:10 left in regulation, when a layup gave the Miners a brief 74-73 advantage.

Ekono made two shots at the line, part of a 13-for-15 performance at the charity stripe for the Blue Tigers, to give Lincoln back the lead, but those ended up being LU's final points of the contest. Lincoln shot .446 from the floor but .387 from three-point land. The Miners, meanwhile, shot .509 overall and .429 from long distance.

Fuller ended the evening with 15 points, five rebounds and a steal while West provided two points, two boards and three assists. Tyler Chapman was the fourth Blue Tiger to reach double digits, finishing with 15 points, six rebounds, two steals and a team-high six assists. Matthieu Biembongo closed out Lincoln with two points.

The Blue Tigers will now wait for Saturday (March 1) to learn their seed for the GLVC Championship tournament, which will be held at Lindenwood University in St. Charles, Mo. from March 6-9.