ROLLA, Mo. – After a 13-day break in play, Missouri S&T gets back to action Sunday afternoon as it heads to Edwardsville, Ill., for an exhibition contest against Southern Illinois Edwardsville at the Vadalabene Center. Game time is slated for 5 p.m.
The Miners – who resume their regular season and Great Lakes Valley Conference schedule on Jan. 3 at Rockhurst – are 2-7 on the season following an 80-65 loss to Northeastern State in their last outing on Dec. 17. S&T held as much as a nine-point lead in the first half and led seven minutes into the second half, but was outscored 22-3 over a 10-minute stretch and was unable to make up the deficit.
Juwan Miller (Kitchener, Ont./Huron Heights), one of four Miners averaging in double figures on the season in the scoring column, led S&T with 15 points, while
Ervin Sarajlic (St. Louis, MO/Oakville) and
Jalen Myers (Shorewood, IL/Minooka) had 12 points apiece in the game. Miller is averaging 11.2 points per contest on the year and also leads S&T in rebounding with 5.7 per game, in assists with 31 and is tied for the team lead with 18 steals.
The Miners' leading scorer for the season is
Jordan Newt (San Francisco, CA/Malibu) with an average of 14.3 points per game, but he is currently sidelined with an injury. The other double figure scorers for the Miners are
CJ Hedgepeth (Evansville, IN/Harrison) with an average of 12 points per game and
Dulan Scott (Chicago, IL/Farragut Academy), who is scoring 11 points a contest, while
Romain Louiserre (La Ferte Alais, France/Fredrick Fays) is just outside of double figures at 9.4 per game.
Hedgepeth is tied with Miller with 18 steals and has also dished out 30 assists, while freshman
Mitch Fairless (St. Charles, MO/Duchesne) has the GLVC's top field goal percentage mark at 77.8 percent. Missouri S&T is shooting 45.3 percent from the field as a team and has one of the conference's best marks at the free throw line having connected on 76.9 percent of its attempts.
The Cougars -- who at one time resided in the Great Lakes Valley Conference with Missouri S&T -- are 3-8 on the year and are coming off an 82-72 win over Northern Colorado at the Las Vegas Classic that snapped a three-game losing streak. Tyreese Williford had a game-high 25 points to lead SIUE in that win, while David McFarland added 17 as four Cougars scored in double figures.
McFarland and Williford are the top two scorers on the season for SIUE, with McFarland leading the way with an average of 15.4 points per game and Williford averaging 14.1 per contest. McFarland has a team-high 22 three-point baskets, but as a team, SIUE has made only 27.2 percent of its attempts from beyond the arc and 41.7 percent of its overall field goal tries.
Williford, meanwhile, leads the team in assists with 34, while Brandon Jackson is the top rebounder for the Cougars with 6.1 per game and Cameron Williams has 15 steals which trails only McFarland's 18. SIUE has forced opposing teams into 179 turnovers on the season.
