ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T's men's basketball team will venture back into the state of Illinois late this week to wrap up a four-game stretch away from home, beginning with Thursday's 7:30 p.m. matchup at the University of Illinois at Springfield in Great Lakes Valley Conference play.

The Miners will wrap up the road swing Saturday when it plays again on the east side of the Mississippi River, facing McKendree at 3 p.m. in Lebanon, Ill., in the first meeting between the schools since 1998.

S&T dropped the first two games of the four-game trip to fall to 9-10 overall and 4-7 in GLVC play.  The Miners lost a tough 109-105 overtime contest at Truman State as a six-point lead late in regulation time slipped away from them, then saw Quincy answer S&T's rally from a 16-point second half deficit to come away with an eventual 93-77 win Saturday.

Bryce Foster (Florissant, Mo./Hazelwood Central) scored a career-high 36 points in the loss at Truman State, then scored 24 at Quincy to bring a seasonal scoring average of 21.9 points a game into play this week.  Foster, who is ranked second in the GLVC in scoring and 15^th in NCAA Division II, is just 18 points away from moving into fifth place on S&T's all-time scoring list after becoming the sixth Miner player to reach the 1,500-point plateau for a career last week.

The Miners are also getting big numbers from Mudiaga Eruteya (Chicago, Ill./Notre Dame), who is leading the GLVC in steals and is currently 13^th nationally with his 2.5 per game.  Eruteya is seventh in the conference in scoring at 17.9 points a game, while ranking fifth in rebounding with 8.2 a game and in assists with 4.8 a contest.  Nusrath Khan (Morton Grove, Ill./Maine East) is also scoring in double figures with his average of 14.4 points per game.

Illinois Springfield is 6-13 overall and 2-9 in the GLVC entering play this week and has dropped six of its last seven contests.  The Prairie Stars have four players averaging in double figures, led by Jacob Williams with an average of 14.3 points per game.

The other three UIS players in double figures are all between 10 and 11 points a game, headed by Regan Bruenger at 10.8 points per contest and Jamall Millison at 10.3 a game.  Millison has connected on 36 three-pointers to lead the Prairie Stars and has done so at a 44 percent clip.  UIS has received over 82 percent of its scoring from its top six scorers.

On Saturday, the Miners – the top scoring team in the GLVC at 90.9 points a game – will contend with a high scoring McKendree squad that ranks fifth in the conference at 83.2 points per outing.   The Bearcats are 8-10 overall but just 2-8 in conference play prior to their game with fourth-ranked Drury on Thursday.

Clinton Happe leads the Bearcats in scoring with 16.3 points per game, good for 11^th in the GLVC, while Mike DiGregorio is scoring 14.5 points a contest.   The duo has combined to hit 68 three-pointers, with Happe hitting 40 percent of his long-range attempts and a league-best 87.6 percent at the free throw line. 

Game Notes: Miners vs. Illinois Springfield

Game Notes: Miners vs. McKendree (available Friday)

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Saturday's links:
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