ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T returns to the floor this week looking to get into the win column in Great Lakes Valley Conference play, as the Miners hit the road for a game at William Jewell on Thursday before returning home to face Drury Saturday night.

The Miners will take on William Jewell Thursday at 7:30 p.m. in Liberty, Mo., before hosting Drury at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Billy Key Court.  It will be the second meeting for the Miners against each of their opponents this week; both beat S&T when they played the first time over the Martin Luther King weekend.

Missouri S&T enters play this week at 2-17 overall and is 0-11 in the GLVC after dropping games last week to Quincy and Rockhurst.  The Miners had double-digit leads in both games, but came up short in the final minute at Quincy and succumbed to a second half run by Rockhurst in Saturday's contest.

Ervin Sarajlic (St. Louis, MO/Oakville) led five Miners in double figures Saturday with 15 points and did so with five three-point baskets, moving him to the cusp of 100 for his Miner career.  Sarajlic, who is shooting 40 percent from three-point range with 40 made treys this season, is averaging 9.7 points per game on the year for a team that has five others scoring in double figures.

Chris Harris (Antioch, IL/Lake Forest Academy) leads the Miners with an average of 13.9 points per game and has a team-high 42 three-point baskets, while Romain Louiserre (La Ferte Alais, France/Fredrick Fays) is scoring 13.4 points a game and is pulling down a team-leading 7.8 rebounds per outing.  The other double figure scorers are Sebastian Ferenc (Zgierz, Poland/) at 11.7 points a game with 7.6 boards as well, Dulan Scott (Chicago, IL/Farragut Academy) at 11.4 points per game and Allante Pickens (Chicago, IL/Curie) at 11.1 points per outing.  Scott matched his career scoring high last week with 24 points in the contest at Quincy.

ABOUT WILLIAM JEWELL: The Cardinals head into Thursday's contest sporting a 16-5 overall record and 6-5 mark in the GLVC; the 16 wins are the most by a Jewell team since the school moved to the NCAA Division II level.  However, William Jewell has dropped three of its last four games since winning at Missouri S&T on Jan. 15, including Saturday's 86-67 loss at Drury.

Jewell is the second-highest scoring team in the GLVC with an average of 86.7 points per game and is doing so as one of the top three-point shooting teams in the conference.  The Cardinals are making 11.1 treys per game while shooting nearly 38 percent from beyond the arc and have the GLVC's top two players in terms of three-pointers made is Patrick Whelan and Keith Hayes.

Whelan, the league's second-leading scorer with an average of 18.6 points per game, has a GLVC best 62 three-point baskets on the season and is hitting 39 percent of his tries from long range.  Meanwhile, Hayes – the GLVC's third-leading scorer at 18.5 points a game – has made the second-most threes with 55 and is hitting 42.7 percent of his shots from outside the arc.

The Cardinals are also getting 14.1 points a game from Byron Harp – a 44.8 percent shooter from long range – and 13 points per game from Pharroh Gordon, their top rebounder with 9.9 per contest.   Gordon, who is third in the GLVC in rebounding, had a double-double in the loss at Drury with 12 points and 10 boards.

ABOUT DRURY:  The Panthers moved into a tie for the lead in the GLVC West Division with Truman State – whom they will host Thursday before coming to Billy Key Court Saturday – with their win over William Jewell on Saturday.  The victory on Saturday moved Drury to 7-3 in the GLVC and 14-4 overall as it has won nine of its last 11 contests.

Balance has been a key to the Drury success this season, as the Panthers have only two players scoring in double figures – Isaac Johnson  at 12 points per game and Andrew Ballock at 10.8 per contest - -but eight others are averaging at least 5.7 points per game for the GLVC's highest scoring outfit.  The Panthers are tallying 89 points per game and also lead the conference with an average of 12.5 three-pointers per game, including a school record 20 when they beat the Miners on Jan. 13 in Springfield.

Johnson has a team-high 44 three-pointers on the season, while Conley Garrison has made 40 at a rate of 45.5 percent and Ballock has made exactly one-half of his three-point attempts with 38 successful tries.   Drury also has the league's top field goal shooter in Tyler Clanton, who has made 80.6 percent of his shots from the floor this season.

Drury is second in the conference in overall field goal percentage at 50.7 percent and its 44 percent mark from three-point land is the best in the GLVC.  The Panthers as a team have also pulled down nearly six more rebounds than their foes, led by Ballock's 5.6 per game.