ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T will hit the road this weekend looking to get back on the winning track as it heads to the Kansas City area for a pair of Great Lakes Valley Conference contests.
The Miners will open the road trip by facing William Jewell Thursday at 7:30 p.m. in Liberty, Mo., then wrap up the weekend in Kansas City with a 3 p.m. matchup Saturday at Rockhurst before returning to Rolla to begin a four-game homestand next Thursday.
S&T enters Thursday's game looking to snap a four-game losing streak after falling 98-82 Saturday to 20
th-ranked Indianapolis at Billy Key Court. The Greyhounds shot 67.9 percent from the field in the first half to build a 15-point lead by the break as they dropped the Miners to 7-9 overall and 3-4 in the GLVC.
Desmond Buerge (Carthage, Mo./Carthage) scored a career-high 24 points for the Miners in Saturday's loss and is now averaging in double figures in the scoring column for the season with an average of 10.3 points a game. He is joined in double figures by leading scorer
B.J. McLaughlin (Florissant, Mo./Hazelwood Central), who is at 15.5 points a game and
Zach Ellis (St. Louis, Mo./Whitfield School), who comes in with a mark of 11.1 per contest.
Rokas Paulauskas (Talsiai, Lithuania/Hamilton Heights Acad.) leads S&T with an average of 7.7 rebounds per game, while
Juwan Miller (Kitchener, Ont./Huron Heights) ranks second in the GLVC with his 73 assists (4.6 per game) and is among the league leaders in steals as well with 28.
William Jewell has dropped five straight contests heading into Thursday's game and will be seeking its first GLVC win of the year, entering the game at 5-10 overall and 0-7 in conference play. William Jewell dropped an 86-78 decision Monday at home to Rockhurst, despite the Cardinals' 57.9 percent shooting in the second half.
Rockhurst built a 14-point lead at halftime and the Cardinals only got as close as five with under a minute to play.
Darius Tomlin, who ranks seventh in the GLVC in scoring with an average of 17.3 points per game, led William Jewell with 23 points in Monday's setback. Tomlin is one of five Cardinal players averaging in double figures on the season, which includes guard Matt Lassen who is hitting 39 percent of his three-point attempts with a team-high 39 on the year, the fourth-most in the GLVC.
Patrick Whelan is averaging 11.5 points a game and Austin Regier is at 10.3 a game with a league-best 9.1 rebounds per contest. Tomlin and Whelan lead WJC with 33 assists each.
As a team, the Cardinals are shooting just 43.7 percent from the field and are hitting only 40.1 percent in their seven conference games.
Rockhurst moved to 9-6 overall and 4-3 in GLVC play following the win at William Jewell, its third straight victory. The Hawks – who are 4-1 on the road in conference play this season – were paced by last week's GLVC "Player of the Week" Dominique Washington, who finished with 22 points in the win.
Washington is averaging 19.3 points in the 10 games in which he has played this year and 21.2 points in conference play, while shooting 56.8 percent from the field. Washington has scored 17 or more points in each of Rockhurst's five games since the resumption of GLVC action on Jan. 7.
Malachi Nix leads the GLVC in assists with 88 and is also averaging 13.6 points per game, while Austin LeVan is pouring in 13.5 points a game while hitting 39 percent of his three-point shots; LeVan has made a team-high 41 on the season.
The Hawks, who have already exceeded their overall and conference wins totals from a year ago, are also getting strong contributions from Adam Fatkin, who is hitting 56 percent of his shots from the floor for an average of 9.4 points a game and Alex Hagan, who is shooting 59.1 percent and leads Rockhurst with 6.4 rebounds per contest.
