ROLLA, Mo. – With the season winding down to its final three weeks, Missouri S&T's men's basketball team will embark on perhaps its most challenging two-game road trip of the season as it heads north to face nationally-ranked Wisconsin-Parkside and Lewis.
The Miners will face No. 12-ranked Wisconsin-Parkside Thursday in Somers, Wis., at 7:30 p.m., then heads down the road Saturday to take on Lewis in a 3 p.m. game in Romeoville, Ill. The last time UW-Parkside and Lewis played at home – where they are a combined 20-4 this season – they both knocked off Indianapolis when the Greyhounds were ranked No. 1 in NCAA Division II.
Meanwhile, S&T enters the weekend at 9-12 overall and 2-11 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference as it is scrambling to try and land one of the final spots in the conference tournament. After beating McKendree last Thursday to snap a nine-game losing streak, the Miners dropped an 89-80 decision Saturday to Illinois Springfield.
The Miners come into the road with three players scoring in double figures, led by
Desmond Buerge (Carthage, Mo./Carthage) with an average of 13.9 points per game. Buerge, who had 21 points in the loss to UIS, is joined atop the scoring list by
Zach Ellis (St. Louis, Mo./Whitfield School) at 11.9 points a game and
Clement Bonardo (LaFarlede, France/Costebelle) at 10.1, who has averaged nearly 13 points a game in the Miners' last five contests.
Michael Nesbitt (Evansville, Ind./LaLumiere School) is averaging 9.4 points a game and ranks among the GLVC leaders in three-point percentage at 45.1 percent and free throw shooting at 84.6 percent, while
Danylo Zuikov (Kiev, Ukraine/LaLumiere School) ranks sixth in the GLVC in assists after a week in which he recorded 18, including an S&T single-game record 13 in the win over McKendree.
Wisconsin-Parkside enters play this week tied for first place with Bellarmine in the GLVC's East Division at 12-1, while holding a 20-2 overall mark. UW-Parkside is seeking to win at least a share of the GLVC East title for the third year in succession.
Jimmy Gavin, who scored 28 points when the Miners upset the Rangers a year ago in Rolla, leads UW-Parkside in scoring with an average of 15.5 points per game. Gavin, who also leads the Rangers in assists with 71 and steals with 38, is joined in double figures by post player Zygimantas Riauka, who averages 14.9 points a game and Andy Mazurczak at 12 points a contest.
Riauka is the league's fifth-leading rebounder with eight per game and Jordan Mach is third in the league in three-pointers per game at 2.5 a contest. Mach has hit 55 shots from beyond the arc and is shooting 42.3 percent from long range, while Mohamed Mohamed and Mazurczak are also hitting better than 42 percent of their three-point attempts.
The Rangers are one of the nation's stingiest defensive squads, ranking seventh in NCAA Division II as they are allowing an average of just 61.3 points per game.
Lewis is 16-6 overall and 8-5 in the GLVC heading into its game against Drury Thursday in Romeoville, Ill. Lewis is trying to keep itself in contention for a possible home game in the GLVC Tournament as well as a spot among the top eight in the NCAA's Midwest Region, as the first regional rankings will come out next Wednesday.
Ryan Jackson leads a contingent of three Flyers in double figures with an average of 14.5 points per game and hit a game-winning shot at the buzzer last Thursday to help Lewis overcome a four-point deficit in the final five seconds to win at William Jewell. Jackson ranks fifth in the GLVC in assists with 82 and also has 33 steals.
He is joined in the double figure column by freshman Max Strus, who averages 12.8 points a game and Jeff Jarosz, who is scoring 12 a contest.
Jarosz is the league's third-best free throw shooter at 85 percent and has also accumulated 60 assists.
As a team, the Flyers are shooting 49 percent from the floor, which ranks fourth in the GLVC and are third in the league in field goal percentage defense at 41.1 percent.
Thursday's links:
Game Notes – Miners vs. #12 Wisconsin-ParksideLive VideoLive AudioLive StatsSaturday's links:
Game Notes – Miners vs. LewisLive VideoLive AudioLive Stats
