ROLLA, Mo. -- After seeing its six-game winning streak end with a pair of losses on a northern road trip in the Great Lakes Valley Conference last weekend, Missouri S&T returns home to face two teams from the league's East Division who are currently on active winning streaks this week at Billy Key Court.
The Miners, 7-7 overall and 3-2 in the GLVC, will host Saint Joseph's Thursday in a 7:30 p.m. game, then take on 20
th-ranked Indianapolis Saturday at 3 p.m. Saint Joseph's has won its last three games heading into Thursday's contest, while the Greyhounds will take a nine-game winning streak into their matchup at Drury on Thursday before visiting Rolla.
S&T had a winning streak of its own of six games snapped at Wisconsin-Parkside last Thursday, then nearly overcame a 24-point deficit Saturday in an 84-80 loss at Lewis.Â
Zach Ellis (St. Louis, Mo./Whitfield School) sparked the rally effort Saturday by scoring 21 of his team-high 24 points in the second half and comes into Thursday's game as one of two double figure scorers in the Miner lineup.
Ellis is averaging 11.6 points per game on the season while shooting 38.9 percent from three-point range, trailing only
B.J. McLaughlin (Florissant, Mo./Hazelwood Central) in the scoring column. McLaughlin, who had 21 points in the game at UW-Parkside, is scoring 16.2 points a game which ranks 10
th in the GLVC and is also shooting 38.5 percent from beyond the arc.
Rokas Paulauskas (Talsiai, Lithuania/Hamilton Heights Acad.) is the Miners' top rebounder with 7.9 per game – sixth in the GLVC – and has a league-high 44 offensive rebounds for a team that is pulling down 15.1 a contest. Meanwhile,
Juwan Miller (Kitchener, Ont./Huron Heights) ranks eighth in the conference in assists with a team-high 57 and also ranks in the top 10 in steals with 24.
Saint Joseph's has had one of the conference's top scorers in each of the last two seasons, but has shown more balance in this campaign with three double figures scorers heading into Thursday's contest. Nathan Tidwell leads that group with a mark of 12.4 points per game and is also one of the top rebounders in the GLVC, ranking third with an average of 8.6 per game.
Davone Daniels is averaging 11.5 points a game while Nick Jeffirs is at 11.1 a contest for a team that has six players averaging at least nine points per game. One of them, C.J. Hardaway, is coming off two big games for the Pumas in their wins last weekend as he scored 22 in the win over Maryville after posting 19 two nights earlier against Missouri-St. Louis.
Saint Joseph's, who is 6-7 overall and 2-2 in the GLVC, had six players score in double figures in the 87-71 victory over Maryville and are averaging 84.1 points per game on the season. The Pumas are also the second-best team in the GLVC at the free throw line, hitting 76.7 percent of their attempts.
Indianapolis is 10-2 overall and unbeaten in the league at 4-0 heading into Thursday's contest at Drury, which will be the Greyhounds' first road game in GLVC play this season. UIndy opened the year at 1-2, but has won nine in a row since then.
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Jordan Loyd ranks second in the conference in scoring as he is pouring in 20.4 points per game; Loyd is shooting better than 50 percent from the field and is hitting 42.1 percent of his three-point attempts with 24 made attempts on the year.
Eric Davidson leads the Greyhounds with 36 three-point baskets, ranking second in the league while hitting them at a 48.6 percent clip. Davidson is averaging 12.2 points per contest, while Joe Retic is scoring 10.5 a game. Lucas Barker, who is tied for second in the GLVC in assists with 4.3 a game, has averaged 13.3 points in conference play.
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