ROLLA, Mo. -- After a tough 2017-18 season, Missouri S&T's men's basketball team opens up a new campaign with a new-look roster ready to put that year out of their memories as it begins the schedule Saturday night against Blackburn at Gibson Arena. Tip-off is at 7 p.m.
The Miners suffered through an injury-plagued season and won just three games, but with five returning players and some impact new faces, the hope is that the team can get back to the GLVC Tournament that it reached two years ago with many of those returners on the roster. They will take on a Blackburn team picked to finish fourth in the NCAA Division III St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference that is coming off a 15-win season last winter.
Saturday's game will be the first of three home games to start the upcoming season for the Miners, who will also play Central Christian on Nov. 13 and Missouri Western on Nov. 17; the last of those games will be Community Appreciation Day at Gibson Arena with the arena dedication scheduled to take place at halftime of the contest.
ABOUT THE MINERS: Missouri S&T returns its second-leading scorer from last season in
Romain Louiserre (La Ferte Alais, France/Fredrick Fays), who averaged 13.5 points per game and had seven double-doubles as he led S&T with eight rebounds per game. The Miners also bring back another double figure scorer from last season in
Dulan Scott (Chicago, IL/Farragut Academy), who scored 10 points a game, as well as forward
Ervin Sarajlic (St. Louis, MO/Oakville), who was just shy of double figures and hit 52 three-point baskets.
In addition, the Miners return two key players from the playoff team of two years ago --
Jalen Myers (Shorewood, IL/Minooka) and
Juwan Miller (Kitchener, Ont./Huron Heights) -- who missed all of last year due to injuries. Myers led the team in scoring that year and hit 73 three-pointers, while Miller had a team-high 145 assists and was on the GLVC's all-defensive team that year.
Among the newcomers of note are
Jordan Newt (San Francisco, CA/Malibu), a transfer from Pierce College who averaged better than 20 points per game there last season; and a pair of transfers from Vincennes University,
Nikola Andric (Uzice, Serbia/Gymnasium) and
CJ Hedgepeth (Evansville, IN/Harrison), who helped lead that team to a fourth place finish at the National Junior College Association Tournament last March.
ABOUT THE BEAVERS: Blackburn is coming off a 15-12 season last year and a third place finish at 10-8 in the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. The Beavers return their top two scorers from that squad in Karson Hayes, who put in 14.4 points per game and shot 43 percent from three-point range and Duncan King, who scored 13.7 points per contest.
A year ago, the Beavers averaged nearly 82 points per game and was one of the SLIAC's top rebounding teams as well, finishing second in the conference on the offensive boards with more than 13 per game and fourth overall.
The Beavers -- who upended the Miners 79-74 in S&T's season opener last November behind 21 points from senior forward Jamaya Wyatt -- hit 229 three-point shots a year ago, with Hayes connecting 57 times and King hitting 46.
