ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T last opened a Great Lakes Valley Conference season with back-to-back wins in the 2015-16 season, but it can reach that mark Thursday when it embarks on a two-game conference weekend away from home starting with a contest at William Jewell in Liberty, Mo.

The Miners and Cardinals will face off at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday evening before S&T heads to Bolivar, Mo., for a Saturday matchup against Southwest Baptist at 3 p.m.  S&T and SBU were the only two teams from the GLVC West Division to win on the opening night of conference play on Monday.

S&T's win came over Drury, as it built a 17-point lead in the second half and held off a Panther comeback effort in the final minutes.  The Miners shot 50.8 percent from the field and had four players in double figures, led by 16 points apiece from Ryan Parker (Bloomington, IN/Bloomington South) and Julien Smith (Fort Worth, TX/Northwest) as they won their second straight game to reach 2-3 heading into Thursday's contest.

Smith comes into the game as the fifth-leading scorer in the GLVC with an average of 18 points per game and is one of five Miners averaging in double figures on the season.  He is also shooting 37.5 percent from three-point range, the fourth-best mark in the conference and his three three-point baskets per game are tied for the second-most in the conference.

Alex Strating (Wassenaar, Netherlands/American School of the Hague) is averaging 12.4 points per contest and is shooting 68.6 percent from the field, while Kaden Froebe (Lincoln, IL/Lincoln) and Ryan Parker (Bloomington, IN/Bloomington South) are both averaging 12.2 points per game.  Froebe leads the Miners with 16 assists on the season and is tied for the team lead with nine steals along with Kevin Legardy (Las Vegas, NV/Canyon Springs) and Dylan Singleton (Lincoln, IL/Lincoln), while Parker has made 11 three-pointers and is shooting 44 percent from beyond the arc.  Parker is also the Miners' top rebounder with 5.6 per game.

Legardy is the Miners' fifth double figure scorer with his mark of 10.2 points per game and he is shooting 42.1 percent from three-point range, as the Miners rank fifth in the GLVC in three-point percentage at 36.3 percent.  S&T has gone 35-of-83 (42.2 percent) from long range over its last three contests.

ABOUT WILLIAM JEWELL: The Cardinals opened their GLVC slate Monday with a 77-66 loss at Southwest Baptist, as the Bearcats shot 53.8 percent from the field and pulled away early in the second half after William Jewell had cut SBU's lead to two.  The loss was the Cardinals' fourth straight, which began after they had knocked off then 11th-ranked Washburn on Nov. 17.  Even though it is 2-5 on the season, Jewell has been in close games throughout the year as the loss Monday at SBU was its first game decided by a double figure margin.

Jordan Jermain leads three Cardinals in double figures in the scoring department with an average of 13.1 points per game, while Kobe McKinley is averaging 12.1 points per contest and leads Jewell with 17 steals and six blocked shots.  Mason Alexander is the third player in double figures at 11.1 points per game and has a team-high 12 three-point baskets on the season.

The Cardinals are shooting 41.9 percent from the field and 32.3 percent from three-point range, but rank 19th in NCAA Division II at the free throw line with a mark of 80.3 percent.  Turnovers have been an issue, as they have committed an average of 15.7 per game.

ABOUT SOUTHWEST BAPTIST: Like Missouri S&T, Southwest Baptist has five players averaging in double figures heading into its game on Thursday at Rockhurst and owns a 5-1 overall record, with the only loss coming in overtime at Missouri Southern on Nov. 19.  On Monday, SBU shot 53.8 percent from the field and got 63 of its 77 points from its starting lineup, led by Ricky Crawford Jr.'s 18 points.

The Bearcats are the highest scoring team in the GLVC with an average of 86.5 points per game and have four double figure scorers on the season, led by Quinn Nelson's 14 points per contest.  Mitch Ganote is averaging 13 points per contest, while leading the GLVC in assists with 38 and ranking second in rebounding 8.8 boards per game; he has the top rebounding game in the GLVC this season with 17 in a game against Trevecca Nazarene played in Rolla. 

SBU is shooting a league-best 51.5 percent from the field – four of its five starters are making at least 50 percent of their field goal attempts – while holding its foes to a 39.8 percent mark for the season.  The Bearcats are also outrebounding their opponents by a league-best 14 rebounds per game.