ROLLA, Mo. -- Missouri S&T's men's basketball team opens its final week of home contests this week, beginning with a visit from the highest scoring team in the Great Lakes Valley Conference -- William Jewell -- to Gibson Arena Thursday night.

The Miners, 5-19 overall and 3-13 in the GLVC, will close out their 2018-19 campaign Saturday afternoon when they host Rockhurst on Senior Day beginning at 3 p.m.  S&T is coming off a week where it split a pair of games in the St. Louis area as it beat Maryville 76-70 and fell to Missouri-St. Louis Saturday 68-56.  The Miners got 20 points from Dulan Scott (Chicago, IL/Farragut Academy) -- his fifth 20-point outing of the season -- but he was the only Miner to crack double figures in last Saturday's game.

Scott and CJ Hedgepeth (Evansville, IN/Harrison) lead the Miners in the scoring column among the active players with their marks of 11.9 per contest; Jordan Newt (San Francisco, CA/Malibu), who has been sidelined with an injury, owns the highest average at 14.3 per game.  Hedgepeth leads the Miners with 67 assists (Juwan Miller (Kitchener, Ont./Huron Heights) is right behind him with 66) and has 34 steals, including a key theft late to clinch the win at Maryville last week.

Romain Louiserre (La Ferte Alais, France/Fredrick Fays), one of the five seniors on the Miner roster along with Miller, Ervin Sarajlic (St. Louis, MO/Oakville), Jalen Myers (Shorewood, IL/Minooka) and Brooks Gerrity (Chesterfield, MO/Marquette) that will be honored on Saturday, is the top rebounder for S&T with 5.3 per game.

ABOUT WILLIAM JEWELL: The Cardinals come into Thursday's contest at 11-17 overall and 5-11 in the GLVC after dropping their final home game of the season Saturday by a 96-80 score to Rockhurst.  Since beating current GLVC leader Lewis on Jan. 24, Jewell -- the top scoring team in the league with an average of 87.6 points per game -- as dropped six of its last eight
outings.

Keith Hayes, who led the Cardinals with 21 points in Saturday's loss and who had 33 points in Jewell's win over the Miners earlier this season, leads his team and the GLVC in scoring with an average of 21.2 points per game.  He also ranks third in the league in three-point baskets with per game and is shooting 42.2 percent from beyond the arc.

Meanwhile, Byron Harp ranks seventh in the conference in the scoring department at 16.5 points per game and also has a team-high 104 assists and 37 steals.  The Cardinals also have the top rebounder in the conference in Eysan Wiley with his 7.4 boards per contest; Wiley also has 50 blocked shots this season, the top mark in the GLVC.

ABOUT ROCKHURST: The Hawks are closing in on a berth to the GLVC Tournament and enter play this week at 16-10 overall and 10-6 in conference play.  Rockhurst will play at Drury -- who has won eight in a row -- on Thursday in Springfield before facing the Miners Saturday afternoon.

Rockhurst downed William Jewell 96-80 Saturday behind 20 points from Chris Hamil and 19 from Nick Volz as the Hawks shot 60.3 percent from the field, their best mark of the season in a conference game.  Hamil is one of three double figure scorers for the Hawks with his average of 13.5 points per game, trailing the 14.3 posted by Curtis Lewis and has drained a team-high 61 three-point baskets.

Quinton Curry, who has missed the last two games due to an injury, is averaging 13 points per game and is shooting 54.3 percent from the field, while Volz is shooting 63.3 percent. Curry is the Hawks' top rebounder with six per game, while Lewis has recorded a team-high 95 assists.