ROLLA, Mo. – A busy week is ahead for Missouri S&T's men's basketball team as it will play three non-conference games prior to its Great Lakes Valley Conference opener next Monday, a stretch that will start Tuesday afternoon when S&T takes part in the Doubletree Thanksgiving Classic at Drury University in Springfield, Mo.

The Miners will open the week by facing two teams from the Great American Conference in the event at Drury, taking on Arkansas-Monticello Tuesday at 3:15 p.m. and Southeastern Oklahoma State on Wednesday, also at 3:15 p.m.  S&T will return home on Saturday for a 3 p.m. contest against Principia at Gibson Arena before Drury comes to Rolla to begin the GLVC slate on Nov. 29.

Missouri S&T has not played a game that counts in its record since its season-opening loss to Trevecca Nazarene on Nov. 12, but did play an exhibition game at Bradley last week and held a lead eight minutes into the game before the Braves made a 13-0 run to take the lead for good in the eventual 92-66 win.

Julien Smith (Fort Worth, TX/Northwest) led three Miners in double figures with 17 points and Dylan Singleton (Lincoln, IL/Lincoln), who got a start in the game, finished with 14. However, the Miners made only 32.2 percent of their shots in the contest and made only five-of-19 from three-point range.

In the game against Trevecca Nazarene, Ryan Parker (Bloomington, IN/Bloomington South) led three Miners in double figures in the scoring column with 16 points, while Smith finished with 15 points and Strating ended up with 13.  Parker and Smith combined to make five of S&T's seven three-point shots in the game, but the Miners made only seven-of-28 from long range and shot only 38.8 percent overall in the contest.

Kaden Froebe (Lincoln, IL/Lincoln) finished with nine points in the opener while also leading S&T with three assists and three steals, while Kevin Legardy (Las Vegas, NV/Canyon Springs) recorded a team-high eight rebounds.

ABOUT ARKANSAS-MONTICELLO: The Boll Weevils opened their season by splitting two games at the Central Regional Classic in Kansas City, defeating Lincoln 73-67 and losing to then No. 1-ranked Northwest Missouri State 75-52.  UAM picked up two one-sided wins over the last week at home, defeating Arkansas Baptist 96-52 and Randall 92-51 to improve to 3-1 heading into the game with S&T on Tuesday.

Ray Price leads the Boll Weevils in scoring with his average of 17.5 points per game, while Richard Feagin, Jr., has averaged 16 per game over the first four contests and Josh Williams has scored 9.5 per game.  UAM has shot 53.2 percent from the floor this season, but made just four three-point shots in 17 attempts and had 35 turnovers to just 14 assists in the first two games against their NCAA Division II opponents before going a combined 23-of-51 from long range and holding a 41-to-16 assist-to-turnover ratio in the two games last week.

Wesley Booker leads the Boll Weevils with 7.3 rebounds per game, while Price is also the team leader in the assist department with 14.  Price and Feagin each have eight three-point  baskets to lead UAM in that category.

Arkansas-Monticello made the NCAA Division II Tournament last season after winning the Great American Conference title, but suffered a loss in its opening round game at the hands of Oklahoma Baptist.

ABOUT SOUTHEASTERN OKLAHOMA STATE: The Savage Storm is 2-1 heading into its game with Drury on Tuesday after posting a 128-70 victory over Arlington Baptist Wednesday in their most recent outing.  The game was highlighted by a 55-point outburst by sophomore guard Jeff Sternberger, which broke a school record that had stood since 1957.  He also broke the Great American Conference record for points in a game along the way as he went 12-of-18 from three-point range and made 18-of-25 from the field.

A transfer from Rogers State, Sternberger leads all of NCAA Division II in scoring with an average of 31.7 points per game and ranks third nationally in three-pointers per game with 5.7.  He is one of three Southeastern players averaging in double figures along with Kellen Manek with his average of 15.7 points a game and Ante Brzovic at 13 per outing.  Brzovic is also the top rebounder for the Savage Storm with nine per game, while Manek is pulling down 8.3 boards per game.

Adam Dworsky leads the team in both assists with 24 and steals with five.

Thanks to the 128-point outing on Wednesday, Southeastern comes into play this week averaging 95.3 points per game on the season.  The Savage Storm's only loss was a one-point setback to MSU Moorhead, a day before they knocked off Wayne State (Neb.).

ABOUT PRINCIPIA:  The Panthers, who will be playing Saturday's game as a discretionary exhibition game, are 2-2 on the season and have won their last two outings, taking a six-point decision over Central College of Iowa before winning in overtime at Dominican (Ill.) on Saturday by a count of 94-83.

Five Panthers are averaging in double figures for the season, led by Payton Sellers with his average of 16 points per game.  AJ Byrd is scoring 13.3 points per game and is the team's top three-point shooter at 42.1 percent, while Shermarri Miles is averaging 10.8 points a game.

Principia's top rebounder is Nathan Brantingham with 5.8 per game, but he is coming off a season-high in the scoring department as he poured in 22 points in the victory over Dominican by going 11-of-13 from the field and added 13 rebounds.  Miles and Kevin Wingert have 11 assists apiece to lead the Panthers in that category.