ROLLA, Mo. – After spending the last two weeks on the road, Missouri S&T's men's basketball returns to its familiar surroundings this weekend as it begins its longest homestand of the season.
The Miners open a four-game set at Billy Key Court Thursday with a visit from Quincy University at 7:30 p.m., then hosts Truman State Saturday at 3 p.m. S&T will also host McKendree and Illinois Springfield next week as it will play six of its final nine Great Lakes Valley Conference games at home.
Missouri S&T, 8-9 overall and 1-8 in the GLVC, comes into Thursday's game seeking to end a seven-game losing streak, which reached that point Saturday when it was unable to hold onto a 13-point second half lead at Maryville and lost 75-71.
Clement Bonardo (LaFarlede, France/Costebelle) led the Miners Saturday with 13 points, while
Danylo Zuikov (Kiev, Ukraine/LaLumiere School) finished with 11.
Desmond Buerge (Carthage, Mo./Carthage) continues to lead the Miners in scoring on the year with an average of 13.2 points per game, while
Zach Ellis (St. Louis, Mo./Whitfield School) is scoring 13.1 a contest. Ellis also ranks among the GLVC leaders in three-point percentage at 46.3 percent, while
Marcus Walden (Augusta, Ga./Academy of Richmond Co.) is ninth in the league in field goal percentage at 46.3 percent.
S&T still ranks among the NCAA Division II leaders in steals with 11.2 per game and also finds itself among the top 12 in the nation in turnover margin and offensive rebounds per game.
Quincy enters Thursday's game riding a three-game winning streak, but is playing just its fifth true road game of the
season where it is 1-3 this year. Quincy improved to 10-9 overall and 4-5 in GLVC play Saturday when it defeated William Jewell 78-70 behind a double-double by Evan McGaughey.
McGaughey leads a balanced offensive attack for the Hawks with an average of 11 points per game and also leads them in rebounding with 6.8 per contest. He is one of two players on the Quincy squad averaging in double figures, as Scottie Bruxvoort is scoring 10.4 a game while shooting 62.9 percent from the field, the fourth-best mark in the GLVC. The Hawks have four other players averaging between 9.1 and 9.9 points per game.
Godson Eneogwe has made a team-high 24 three-point baskets, while Herm Senor II has made 21 while recording a team-high 26 steals and 53 assists. Quincy's assist leader is Thomas Jackson with 58.
Truman State, 14-5 overall and 6-3 in GLVC play, takes a three-game winning streak into its game Thursday at Drury. The Bulldogs have won all three of their games in their current streak – all played in Kirksville – by at least 20 points.
Truman possesses the league's leading scorer in Seth Jackson, who comes into Thursday's game averaging 20.8 points per game. Jackson has a league-high 10 games with 20 or more points this season, led by a 33-point performance in a win over Quincy in December.
The Bulldogs have one other double figure scorer in their lineup in Reed Mells, who is at 13.5 points per game for the year with a team-high 72 assists, the fourth-highest mark in the GLVC. Thanks in part to Mells, the Bulldogs have the conference's best assist-to-turnover ratio with 313 assists against 184 turnovers.
As a team, Truman State is shooting 39.5 percent from three-point range, paced by Cory Myers' mark of 52.9 percent and Isaac Gardner's 45.5 percent mark; Gardner is sixth in the GLVC with 35 three-point baskets.
Thursday's links:
Game Notes – Miners vs. QuincyLive VideoLive AudioLive StatsSaturday's links:
Game Notes – Miners vs. Truman StateLive VideoLive AudioLive Stats
