ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T will take to the floor for the last time in the regular season Thursday night, but in order to play beyond that point, it will at the very least have to knock off the current leader in the Great Lakes Valley Conference's West Division on its home floor.
The Miners take on Drury at the O'Reilly Family Events Center in Springfield, Mo., in a 7:45 p.m. contest still holding a chance to get into the GLVC Tournament field. S&T, 8-18 overall and 4-13 in the GLVC, not only needs to win the game to remain in contention, but will need a win from Indianapolis on Wednesday over Saint Joseph's as well as a victory Thursday from Missouri-St. Louis over Maryville.
Should the Miners make the tournament, they would play on the road Sunday as the No. 12 seed against an opponent to be determined once conference play concludes Thursday night.
The first order of business for the Miners, however, is taking on a Drury team that is currently sporting a six-game winning streak and can clinch the outright title in the GLVC West Division with a win Thursday. The Panthers, 18-7 overall and 13-4 in the GLVC, would also gain the No. 2 seed for the conference tournament with a win over S&T.
Kameron Bundy is fourth in the GLVC in scoring with an average of 19.9 points per game and also ranks second in three-pointers per game; he has made 73 on the season while shooting 42 percent from beyond the arc. Bundy, who recently moved into the top 10 on the all-time scoring list at Drury, is also ninth in the conference in assists with 95.
The Panthers are also getting 14.2 points per game from Tevin Foster, who has connected 42 times from long range and 10.3 a game from Joshua Palmer, a 54.2 percent shooter from the floor. Drew Moore is Drury's top rebounder with 5.9 a game.
Drury is the top three-point shooting team in terms of percentage in the league at 41.4 percent – which ranks seventh in Division II -- and also ranks second in three-point defense as opponents have made just 31.9 percent of their tries against the Panthers.
The Miners enter Thursday's game with three players averaging in double figures, led by
B.J. McLaughlin (Florissant, Mo./Hazelwood Central) with an average of 14.6 points a game.
Zach Ellis (St. Louis, Mo./Whitfield School) is averaging 11.5 points per contest while
Desmond Buerge (Carthage, Mo./Carthage) is at 11.1 a game and is eighth in the GLVC in three-point shooting at 43.9 percent on the year.
Rokas Paulauskas (Talsiai, Lithuania/Hamilton Heights Acad.) is the Miners' top rebounder with 7.2 per game and leads the league in offensive rebounds with 75, while
Juwan Miller (Kitchener, Ont./Huron Heights) ranks among the GLVC leaders in assists with 102 and steals with 45.
Missouri S&T won the first meeting over the Panthers 74-56 in Rolla on Dec. 12 behind 19 points from McLaughlin and a double-double by Paulauskas, while Bundy led Drury with 15 points. S&T forced 18 Panther turnovers in the first meeting while committing just nine and had a 16-rebound advantage in that game.
