ROLLA, Mo. -- After three straight road contests to begin its Great Lakes Valley Conference schedule, Missouri S&T's men's basketball team will play its first conference home games this week as they welcome Lewis and Indianapolis to Gibson Arena.

The Miners will open the short homestand – which will precede a four-game road trip over the next two weeks – with Thursday's 7:30 p.m. contest against Lewis.   Saturday afternoon, S&T will take on Indianapolis at 3 p.m.

Not only are the Miners playing a GLVC game at home for the first time this week, they are also seeking to win for the first time in conference play and end a nine-game losing streak in the process as they come into the week at 2-9 overall and 0-3 in GLVC play.  The Miners dropped both games in their road trip to Kansas City last weekend, losing the latter game 108-93 at William Jewell despite getting 23 points from CJ Hedgepeth (Evansville, IN/Harrison).

Hedgepeth is the top active scorer for the Miners entering tonight's contest with an average of 13.2 points per game; he is also shooting 43.3 percent from three-point range and leads S&T with 36 assists on the year.  Dulan Scott (Chicago, IL/Farragut Academy), who had 22 points for S&T in the game at Rockhurst last Thursday, is averaging 13 points a game and Juwan Miller (Kitchener, Ont./Huron Heights) is at 10.9 per game entering play tonight.
 
ABOUT LEWIS: The Flyers rebounded from a loss to Truman State on Thursday -- a setback that ended an seven-game winning streak -- to beat Quincy 75-63 Saturday to improve to 9-2 overall and 2-1 in the GLVC.  The early season success for the Flyers includes wins over defending national champion Findlay and two nationally-ranked teams in Indianapolis and Findlay.
 
Kendale McCullum, a graduate student who previously played at Wisconsin-Parkside and Delaney Blaylock share the scoring lead for the Flyers, as both are averaging 15.2 points per contest.  McCullum has a team-high 66 assists and 26 steals while shooting 51.2 percent from the field and Blaylock has a team-high 20 three-point baskets while leading Lewis in rebounding with six per contest.

Adam Pischke is also averaging in double figures at 10.5 points per game and has connected on 45.7 percent of his three-point attempts; he led Lewis with 25 points in the win over Quincy on Saturday.

ABOUT INDIANAPOLIS: The Greyhounds opened the 2018-19 campaign with six straight wins and landed a spot in the national top 25 in the process, then lost four straight contests prior to the holiday break before bouncing back with three consecutive victories since play resumed.  UIndy takes a 9-4 overall record and 2-1 GLVC mark into Thursday's game at Drury.

All five individuals who started for the Greyhounds in their 83-79 win Saturday over Truman State are averaging in double figures on the season, led by Jesse Kempson's 16.5 points per game that ranks seventh in the conference.  Kempson is also the second-leading rebounder for UIndy with 7.8 per game, while Jordache Mavunga is pulling down seven boards per game to go along with his scoring avearge of 10.9 points per game.

CJ Hardaway is scoring 14.9 points a game and is shooting 53.6 percent from the field, while Trevor Lakes is averaging 14.3 points a game and Jimmy King 13.1 for the GLVC"s fourth-highest scoring team.  King is also the league leader in assists with 83.