ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T's men's basketball team breaks up a stretch of road contests Saturday night with a game on its home court, as it will host a high-scoring Culver-Stockton squad in a 6 p.m. matchup at Billy Key Court.
The Miners are coming off a two-game road trip – which saw them lose to defending NCAA Division II national champion Central Missouri and to UMKC in an exhibition game Wednesday – and will be back on the road Tuesday at Trevecca Nazarene. In the meantime, the Miners will host a Wildcat squad Saturday night that comes into the game averaging 93.2 points per game.
The 3-1 Wildcats, ranked 24
th in the NAIA's pre-season poll and one of four members of the Heart of America Conference in the pre-season Top 25, have shot the ball well from the floor and three-point range in the early stages of the season. Culver-Stockton is shooting 50.4 percent from the field as a whole and 45.8 percent of the time from three-point range, averaging 8.3 times per game in the early going.
Senior guard Jojuan Graham leads the Wildcats in scoring with an average of 19.3 points per game and is coming off a 26-point, 11-rebound outing in Culver-Stockton's lone loss of the year, a 96-95 defeat at the hands of Mount Mercy last Saturday. Graham is also the team's top rebounder with nine per game while shooting 64.2 percent from the field.
Johnnie Mills is also scoring in double figures at 13.5 points a game as is Marques Pool at 11.8 per contest.
After losing 93-70 Tuesday at Central Missouri, the Miners hung in the contest with UMKC for much of the night Wednesday before ending up on the short end of the 90-77 result. S&T was within six in the second half and had the margin in single digits on several occasions in the second half before the Kangaroos shook free in the final eight minutes of play.
B.J. McLaughlin (Florissant, Mo./Hazelwood Central) led the Miners with 17 points in Wednesday's contest, while
Zach Ellis (St. Louis, Mo./Whitfield School) finished with 15 and
Danylo Zuikov (Kiev, Ukraine/LaLumiere School) with 13. Zuikov connected on four of the Miners' 10 three-point baskets in the game as S&T went 10-of-21 from beyond the arc.
Ellis, who finished one point shy of his career high with 19 points in the Miners' loss Tuesday at Central Missouri, leads S&T with an average of 15.5 points per game.
Desmond Buerge (Carthage, Mo./Carthage),
Michael Nesbitt (Evansville, Ind./LaLumiere School) and
Marcus Walden (Augusta, Ga./Academy of Richmond Co.) are also in double figures in the scoring column, as Buerge is scoring 14.5 a game, while is at Nesbitt 10.5 a contest and Walden at an even ten after a 15-point outing at UCM.
The Miner defense, meanwhile, has already forced its first two opponents into 47 turnovers and made 29 steals.
Clement Bonardo (LaFarlede, France/Costebelle) has six steals and Ellis has five to lead the Miners in that department.
Game Notes -- Miners vs. Culver-StocktonLive VideoLive AudioLive Stats
