ROLLA, Mo. - The Truman State University men's basketball program has beaten no team more than Missouri S&T in its history (98-49) and the Bulldogs added to that win total on Thursday night, but not without resistance from the Miners. Truman led by as many as 15 on the road before S&T slimmed the margin to as little as three down the stretch, but the Bulldogs staved off the Miners, 70-65, thanks to some clutch free throws.

Truman has won three-straight games to creep back above the .500 mark both overall (11-10) and in GLVC play (6-5) while Missouri S&T (3-15, 1-9 GLVC) has lost four in a row and 15 of its last 16. Back to the all-time series, the Bulldogs have taken four-straight meetings, 10 of the last 11 and four in a row in Rolla.

Cade McKnight (pictured) paced four Bulldogs in double-figures with 19 points along with Brodric Thomas (16), Taurin Hughes (16) and Turner Scott (10). Despite going just 5-of-17 (29.4 percent) from the field, Thomas still led his team in four other major categories including rebounds (7), assists (5), blocks (3), and minutes played (38). Those three blocks tie his Truman best while the 38 minutes are even with a season high also set at Indianapolis and vs. UMSL.

After six three-pointers against McKendree and four more on Thursday, Hughes (fourth all time in three-point percentage) hit at least four of them in back-to-back games for the first time in his career. As for Scott (four assists and one turnover), the 5-10 floor general has dished out four or more dimes to just one giveaway in three-straight games, something he'd never done before. Scott's assist-to-turnover ratio is up to an even 2.0 (74-to-37), which is good for a top-10 GLVC ranking.

Nearly 15 minutes into the first half with the score deadlocked at 16-16, the game had already seen all four of its ties and five of the six lead changes. That sixth lead change came on a McKnight free throw, which was just some foreshadowing for the end of the game. At that point with 5:35 left until halftime, the redshirt freshman had scored four-straight points to open up a 17-5 run for Truman that gave it a nine-point lead at the break, 30-21. The Bulldogs scored 13 points in the first seven minutes before reeling off 17 in the final seven.

As mentioned above, Truman led by as many as 15 and did it twice in the second half including 39-24 and 52-37. The second time, there was just under nine minutes remaining before Missouri S&T clawed all the way back into it with a 25-13 spurt that made it a three-point game, 65-62, with just 26 ticks left. From there on out, despite a triple from the Miners' Brooks Gerrity at the eight-second mark, the Bulldogs converted five of their six free throw attempts to put the game on ice.

Next up, Truman will be at Drury (5-5 GLVC) on Saturday for a 3 p.m. tip. The Bulldogs and Panthers are both 11-10 overall after Drury blew out Quincy on Thursday night, 86-59. Eight of the Panthers' 11 wins have come at home where they are 8-2 and haven't lost more than three times in a season since 2015-16.

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