ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T will close out its 2014-15 season Thursday when it heads to Springfield, Mo., to take on rival Drury University. Game time is at 7:45 p.m. at the O'Reilly Family Events Center on the Drury campus.
The Miners, who were mathematically eliminated from the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament race last week, will look to snap a five-game losing streak Thursday and also try to play the role of spoiler as well. The Panthers have already clinched at least a share of the GLVC West Division title, but can win it outright with a victory over S&T Thursday.
However, a win by the Miners could put Drury in a position where it could only tie for the division title – it is one game in front of Truman State and Missouri-St. Louis heading into the final night of conference play – and possibly go from getting a first round bye in the conference tournament to having to play a first round game on Sunday if the tiebreakers don't fall in the Panthers' favor.
S&T brings three double figures scorers into Thursday's game, led by
Desmond Buerge (Carthage, Mo./Carthage) with an average of 13.7 points per game.
Zach Ellis (St. Louis, Mo./Whitfield School) is averaging 11.9 points a game heading into the finale, while
Clement Bonardo (LaFarlede, France/Costebelle) is scoring 10.3 per contest.
Danylo Zuikov (Kiev, Ukraine/LaLumiere School), who owns the GLVC's top assist-to-turnover ratio at 3.06-to-1 – which also ranks 12
th in NCAA Division II – needs two assists to reach 100 for the season. The Miners, who did not have a 100-assist player for 10 seasons until last year, will have one in back-to-back seasons if Zuikov does dish out at least two assists on Thursday.
Missouri S&T, 9-16 overall and 2-15 in the GLVC, also ranks in the top 10 nationally in two team categories, as it is sixth in offensive rebounding with 15.2 per game and seventh in steals with 10.4 a contest.
Drury comes into Thursday's game at 11-6 in GLVC play and 17-8 overall after knocking off Rockhurst 75-60 Saturday to snap a three-game losing streak. The Panthers were ranked eighth in the first NCAA Midwest Regional rankings that came out last week, but a home loss to William Jewell has them on the bubble as far as the NCAA Tournament goes.
Cameron Adams, who missed the last two games due to an injury, leads Drury with an average of 16.9 points per game, which ranks sixth in the GLVC and is shooting 65.2 percent from the floor on the season. Meanwhile, Kameron Bundy, who scored 26 points in the first meeting between the teams -- won by Drury in Rolla 79-63 on Dec. 6 -- is averaging 16.8 points a game and leads the conference with 56 steals.
Mike Nwelue is averaging 9.2 points a game and shooting 58.7 percent from the field while Drake Patterson, who scores 7.6 a contest, is hitting 42.1 percent of his attempts from three-point range.
Thursday's links:
Game Notes – Miners vs. DruryLive VideoLive AudioLive Stats
