ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T will again try to pick up its first victory in Great Lakes Valley Conference play this week with a pair of games on the docket beginning on Thursday evening.

The Miners will head to Quincy, Ill., to face Quincy University Thursday in a 7:30 p.m. contest, then return home for a Saturday matchup against Rockhurst at Billy Key Court.  Game time is at 3 p.m. for the Miners' annual Military Appreciation Day; all military personnel – active or retired – will admitted free along with their immediate family members with a military identification card to Saturday's game.

Missouri S&T enters play this week at 2-15 overall and will be looking to snap a nine-game losing streak after dropping the first two games of its current three-game road swing, the most recent being a loss Saturday to sixth-ranked Bellarmine in Louisville, Ky. 

In that game, Romain Louiserre (La Ferte Alais, France/Fredrick Fays) recorded his fifth double-double of the season – all five coming since Dec. 31 – with 15 points and 14 rebounds, while Chris Harris (Antioch, IL/Lake Forest Academy) was also in double figures with 12 points.  Harris continues to lead S&T in scoring with an average of 14.3 points per game, while Louiserre is averaging 13.1 points and 7.8 rebounds per contest.

The Miners have three others averaging in double figures in Sebastian Ferenc (Zgierz, Poland/) with 11.9 points and a team-high eight rebounds per game, Allante Pickens (Chicago, IL/Curie) with his 11.3 points per game and Dulan Scott (Chicago, IL/Farragut Academy) at 10.5 per contest.  Harris has hit a team-high 40 three-point baskes, while Pickens has hit 34 and is shooting 43.6 percent from beyond the arc.

Ervin Sarajlic (St. Louis, MO/Oakville) has connected 33 times from three-point range and is shooting just under 38 percent from long range, while also ranking second on the team with 40 assists to Scott's 42.

ABOUT QUINCY:  A year after reaching the NCAA Division II Midwest Regional semifinals, the Hawks have struggled through a transition year as they come into play this week with records of 6-12 overall and 2-7 in the GLVC.  However, those two conference wins came last week as Quincy recorded a win at McKendree Thursday and followed it up with a 74-61 victory Saturday over Missouri-St. Louis.

Demetrius Houston, the Hawks' leading scorer on the season with an average of 13.4 points per game and Tanner Stuckman led Quincy with 17 points apiece in Saturday's win.  Houston is one of four Hawks averaging in double figures entering Thursday's contest, as Marcus Hinton is scoring 11.9 points per game, Marsalis Johnson comes in at 10.1 points per game and Ryan Briscoe is at an even 10 per contest.

Johnson is among the GLVC leaders in field goal percentage at 64.1 percent, while Hinton is sixth in the league in rebounding with his 8.3 boards per game.   Quincy's top three-point shooter has been Bobby Frasco at 34.5 percent with a team-high 30 three-pointers, while Briscoe – the team leader in assists with 79 -- has connected 25 times and Houston on 23 occasions.

As a team, the Hawks have struggled with their shooting throughout the year, hitting just over 44 percent of their field goal attempts and only 32.2 percent from three-point range and a league-low 61.9 percent at the free throw line.

ABOUT ROCKHURST:  Rockhurst comes into play this week – which includes a Thursday night matchup at Missouri-St. Louis – with records of 9-9 and 3-6 in the GLVC.   The Hawks split a pair of games on their northern road trip over the weekend, winning at Lewis before losing in overtime Saturday at Wisconsin-Parkside.

Curtis Lewis lead the Hawks in scoring with an average of 16.2 points per game, the 11^th-best mark in the GLVC, but has been one of the league's hottest scorers recently.  Lewis had games of 29 points in the win at Lewis and 25 at UW-Parkside and has scored 20 or more points in five of Rockhurst's six games since the team returned from the holiday break.  Lewis has averaged 23 points per contests over the Hawks' last seven games.

Quinton Curry is averaging 12.8 points per game while shooting 58.2 percent from the field, while Aaron Rushing is averaging 11.9 points a game and Alex Hagan, who had a 29-point performance recently against Truman State, is scoring 10.8 points per game and lead the Hawks with an average of 7.9 rebounds per outing.

The Hawks rank fifth in the GLVC with their 8.9 three-point baskets per game, led by the 39 recorded by Eddie Muench and the 36 made by Rushing, who has hit them at a clip of 40.4 percent.  Lewis leads Rockhurst with 86 assists, while Connor Evans has a team-high 27 steals.