ROLLA, Mo. – After spending the last week on the road facing a pair of nationally-ranked teams, Missouri S&T's men's basketball team returns to Billy Key Court to open a four-game homestand this weekend, beginning with visits from William Jewell on Thursday and Rockhurst on Saturday.

Thursday's contest with the Cardinals will start at 7:30 p.m., while Saturday's matchup against Rockhurst will get underway at 3 p.m.

The Miners come into Thursday's contest looking to snap a four-game losing streak and pick up not only their first win in the 2014 calendar year, but also their first in Great Lakes Valley Conference play. Missouri S&T is 5-8 overall and 0-5 in the GLVC, but four of those losses have come to teams currently ranked among the top 14 in the latest NABC/Division II rankings.

S&T will tangle with a William Jewell squad that is 6-7 on the season and 2-3 in conference play, with wins over Rockhurst and Saint Joseph's during the league portion of the schedule. The Cardinals' most recent game was an 84-82 loss at No. 19-ranked Indianapolis Saturday as the Greyhounds hit a pair of free throws with five seconds left to win the contest.

William Jewell has five players averaging in double figures heading into play this week, led by Devonte Bell with an average of 14.8 points per game. Jordan Lewis is averaging 14.4 points a game, while Dwight Sistrunk, who is scoring 12.3 per game, leads the GLVC and is sixth in NCAA Division II with his 7.4 assists a contest.

The Cardinals are averaging 86.2 points a game, the fourth-best mark in the GLVC, but are also giving up 82.7 a contest.

S&T has two of the GLVC's top five scorers in Bryce Foster (Florissant, Mo./Hazelwood Central), who is scoring 20.8 points a game to rank third in the league and Mudiaga Eruteya (Chicago, Ill./Notre Dame), who has scored 19.2 points per contest for the fifth-best mark in the conference. Foster will be playing in his 100^th career game at Missouri S&T on Thursday and is the leading active scorer in the GLVC with 1,369 points, a total that has him seventh on the Miners' all-time scoring list.

The Miners continue to lead the GLVC in scoring with their average of 92.6 points a contest, a mark that ranks fourth in Division II behind the nation's top-ranked team, West Liberty, Newberry and Colorado Christian.

Saturday's opponent, Rockhurst, is 5-7 overall and 1-4 in conference play heading in its game Thursday at seventh-ranked Drury. The Hawks won their most recent contest 95-84 at Saint Joseph's behind 22 points from their leading scorer on the season, Brandon McCann.

McCann is scoring 16.5 points a game and is shooting 41.7 percent from behind the three-point line, while Russell Burns is also in double figures at 10.4 points a contest. Liam Duffy, who is scoring just over eight points a game, has connected on 30 three-point shots at a clip of 47.6 percent on the season.

Game notes: Miners vs. William Jewell

Game notes: Miners vs. Rockhurst

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