ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T's men's basketball team will look to get back into the win column this weekend as it will play a pair of non-conference games at the site of their first Great Lakes Valley Conference match next weekend, as it takes part in the Doubletree/Houlihan's Thanksgiving Classic at Drury University in Springfield, Mo.

The Miners, who have lost their last two games after opening the year with two wins, will face Newman Friday at the O'Reilly Family Events Center at Drury – where S&T opens its GLVC schedule Dec. 1 -- in a 1 p.m. matchup, before finishing the weekend with a matchup against Upper Iowa Saturday starting at 1 p.m.

S&T had leads at halftime of its games against Missouri Western on Saturday and Lincoln on Monday afternoon, but ended up on the short end of the score on both occasions to fall to 2-2 on the season.  In the game on Monday, the Miners led with just over five minutes to play, but went into a scoring drought down the stretch as Lincoln came away with the 71-63 victory at Kansas City's Municipal Auditorium.

CJ Hedgepeth (Evansville, IN/Harrison) had his best game in the early season for the Miners, pouring in a career-high 23 points and enters the weekend leading S&T with an average of 14 points per game.  He is one of five Miners scoring in double figures on the year, as Dulan Scott (Chicago, IL/Farragut Academy) is averaging 11 points a contest and Yahmir Muhammad (Rockford, IL/Auburn) and Juwan Miller (Kitchener, Ont./Huron Heights) are each scoring 10.5 per game.  The fifth double figure scorer is Romain Louiserre (La Ferte Alais, France/Fredrick Fays), who is right at 10 points a game.

Miller leads the Miners in assists with 14 and is tied for the team lead with Hedgepeth in steals with nine; Miller moved into third place on S&T's all-time list for assists in Monday's contest.  Jordan Newt (San Francisco, CA/Malibu) has 13 assists on the year and also made seven steals.

ABOUT NEWMAN: Newman lost its first two games of the season by wide margins to Cameron and Texas A&M-Commerce, but has rebounded with three straight wins on its home floor to bring a record of 3-2 on the season heading into Friday's contest.  The Jets beat Emporia State 68-58 Saturday before edging Fort Hays State 76-75 Tuesday night.

The Jets are paced in the scoring column by Marshawn Blackmon, who has averaged 22.5 points over the first four contests and fired in 26 points in the victory over Emporia State.  Blackmon, a product of St. Peters, Mo., is also his team's leader in the rebounding category with 9.8 per game and is shooting 60.8 percent from teh field on the year.

Blackmon had 19 points in the win Tuesday and his two free throws with five seconds remaining decided the contest in the Jets' favor.

Dametrius Walker is also in double figures with an average of 10.3 points per game, while Ben Ayre is scoring 9.3 points a game and leads the Jets with 19 assists.  Newman is shooting 45 percent as a team from the floor this season, but has made just 26.6 percent of its attempts from three-point range.

ABOUT UPPER IOWA: The Peacocks picked up their first win of the 2018-19 season last Friday at the expense of GLVC member Quincy, handing the Hawks a 104-92 loss in a game where they shot 54.1 percent from the field and connected 15 times from three-point range.

Much of that long-range damage was done by Jareese Williams, who went six-of-seven from beyond the arc for a game-high 29 points. Williams, UIU's top rebounder with six per game, is one of three players averaging in double figures for Upper Iowa with an average of 16.3 points per game, trailing the mark of 18.3 recorded by Joe Smoldt.

The Peacocks' third double figure scorer is Munachiso Okonbwo at 14 points per game; he is shooting 68 percent from the field for a team making just 43.2 collectively.  Okonbwo has also blocked eight shots on the season, while Cade Moritz has blocked seven for a team that ranks 11th nationally in that category.

Smoldt is the assist leader for Upper Iowa with 13 on the year and also has four steals.