ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T's men's basketball team will seek its best start to a season after six games in over a decade on Wednesday, as it travels to Durant, Okla., to face off with Southeastern Oklahoma State in its final non-conference tilt before the start of Great Lakes Valley Conference play.

The Miners, 4-1 on the year, won their third straight game on Monday as they easily dispatched Ozark Christian 106-46 at Billy Key Court, as Zach Ellis (St. Louis, Mo./Whitfield School) scored a career-high 29 points as part of a four-player contingent in double figures.  Southeastern also got a win on Monday as it beat Dallas Christian 87-60 to improve to 3-5.

S&T led from start to finish on Monday, using a 19-5 burst in the first half to build a lead of 19 points.  The Miners had their best shooting night of the year from the field at 49.4 percent and hit a season-high 11 three-pointers, while forcing Ozark Christian into 33 turnovers.

The Miners have forced opposing teams into 135 turnovers in the first five games of the season and have recorded the sixth-most steals in NCAA Division II with 75.  Four Miners, led by Desmond Buerge (Carthage, Mo./Carthage) with 12, are ranked among the top ten in steals in the GLVC.

With his big scoring night on Monday, Ellis now leads the Miners with an average of 17.4 points per game.  Buerge is averaging 16 points per contest and Marcus Walden (Augusta, Ga./Academy of Richmond Co.), who ranks third in the GLVC in field goal percentage at 72.4 percent after a perfect six-of-six night Monday, is scoring 11.8 points a game and leads S&T with 5.6 rebounds a contest.

Juwan Miller (Kitchener, Ont./Huron Heights) ranks fifth in the GLVC with a team-high 21 assists, while Danylo Zuikov (Kiev, Ukraine/LaLumiere School) has the league's fourth-best assist-to-turnover ratio with 19 assists against just six turnovers.

Southeastern Oklahoma State comes into Wednesday's game still looking for its first victory over an NCAA Division II school.  The Savage Storm won their second game in succession on Monday over Dallas Christian behind Danny Powell's 15 points and a season-high 14 three-point baskets.

The Savage Storm have four players averaging in double figures on the season, led by Danny Powell with an average of 16.5 points per contest.  Sami Bzai, who did not play in Monday's contest, is averaging 13.4 a game and is SEOSU's top three-point shooter at 46.2 percent -- he has made a team-high 18 three-point baskets – while Taylor Smaller has connected 16 times from long range and is scoring 12.1 points a game.

Darius Harris, the top rebounder for Southeastern Oklahoma State with 9.6 per game, is just below the double figure mark at 9.9 points per contest.

Harris is also shooting 58.8 percent from the floor and Powell is hitting 56.3 percent of his field goal attempts, as the Savage Storm is shooting 46.6 percent as a team.  They have also posted solid numbers on the defensive end, allowing their opponents to make just 39.4 percent from the floor and blocking 43 shots in the first seven contests.  Antonio Worthy, a 6-11 post player, had six blocks on Monday and leads the Savage Storm with 23 on the year.

Game Notes – Miners vs. Southeastern Oklahoma State
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