ROLLA, Mo. – Still in the mix for a spot in the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament, Missouri S&T faces two important games this week as it tries to forge its way into the field.
The Miners will wrap up their home schedule Thursday night as they host Missouri-St. Louis at 7:30 p.m. at Billy Key Court, then head to the road for their final two contests of the regular season, starting with Saturday's 3 p.m. matchup at Maryville University in St. Louis. S&T finishes its slate Feb. 25 at Drury prior to the start of the GLVC Tournament on Feb. 28.
S&T missed a couple of opportunities last week to solidify its position in the tournament field, losing a 108-105 overtime decision at McKendree and a 78-74 contest two days later at Illinois Springfield, leaving the Miners in a four-way tie for 11
th place in the overall standings at 4-11 in the GLVC. S&T is 8-16 overall heading into play this week.
One of the teams the Miners are tied with is UMSL, who has rebounded to win four of its last six games after a 0-9 start to conference play. The Tritons come into Thursday's game at 10-14 overall and held a lead into the second half Saturday at Southern Indiana before losing 86-76.
Brandon Marquardt, the leader in three-pointers made in the GLVC, heads the Tritons' scoring list with an average of 14.1 points per game. Marquardt has connected 74 times from beyond the arc and is shooting 47.1 percent from long range, the fifth-best mark in the league.
Joshua Webster, who had 22 points in the loss at USI on Saturday, is also in double figures with an average of 11 points a game and leads UMSL with 4.6 rebounds a game and 91 assists, which is seventh in the GLVC. As a team, the Tritons are shooting just under 47 percent from the field and are making nearly 38 percent of their attempts from three-point range.
B.J. McLaughlin (Florissant, Mo./Hazelwood Central) continues to pace the Miners in scoring with an average of 14.5 points per game – good for 14
th in the GLVC – while
Zach Ellis (St. Louis, Mo./Whitfield School) is averaging 11.8 a game and
Desmond Buerge (Carthage, Mo./Carthage) 11.1 a contest.
On Saturday, Ellis became the 24
th player in the history of the Miner program to reach the 1,000-point mark for his career in a 13-point effort. That came on the heels of a 23-point showing in the overtime setback at McKendree.
S&T has also received a scoring boost of late from freshman
Telloy Simon (Kitchener, Ont./St. Mary's), who entered the starting lineup four games ago and has reached a career high in the scoring department in each of the last two, headed by a 20-point showing at UIS Saturday.
The Miners won the earlier meeting from the Tritons by rallying from an 18-point deficit for an 85-81 win on Dec. 5 in St. Louis. Ellis led the Miners with 19 points in that victory, while Marquardt had 26 points to lead the Tritons.
Maryville comes into the week sitting just one game in back of the Miners in the standings with a 3-12 conference mark and 9-16 overall record. The Saints are a youthful team with four sophomores in their starting lineup in recent contests and that group pulled off an upset last week by downing Southern Indiana 89-80 in Evansville.
Forrester Sims leads the Saints in scoring with an average of 14.9 points per game and is connecting on 49 percent of his shots from three-point range. Marvin Grant-Clark is averaging 14.3 points a game and has 42 three-pointers on the season, second to Sims' 49, while Max Mischkulnig is in double figures at 10.5 points a contest.
Mischkulnig also leads Maryville with 5.4 rebounds per game and 28 blocked shots, while Saikou Jallow is fifth in the GLVC with 107 assists.
S&T also won the first meeting with Maryville as it took an 83-73 decision in the GLVC opener in Rolla on Dec. 3. McLaughlin had 27 points to pace S&T, while Grant-Clark scored 19 to lead the Saints.
