ROLLA, Mo. – With final examinations completed and the holiday break ahead, Missouri S&T's men's basketball team will look to close its first semester schedule on a high note this weekend as it takes part in the Holiday Hoops Classic at Southpoint Arena in Las Vegas.

The Miners, 7-2 on the season after winning its most recent game last Saturday over Illinois Springfield, will take on Montana State Billings Saturday at 8 p.m. (Pacific time) and fourth-ranked West Liberty on Sunday in a game that will also get underway at 8 p.m. in the Pacific time zone.  The weekend event in Las Vegas includes four teams – West Liberty, Missouri-St. Louis, Dominican (N.Y.) and West Texas A&M – that are currently ranked in the national top 25 in the NABC coaches poll.

S&T not only got its seventh win of the season last weekend with its 97-93 win over UIS, but also evened its record in the Great Lakes Valley Conference at 2-2 in the process.  The Miners were paced in the win by Lovell Williams (Rogers, MN/Maple Grove) as he tallied 36 points, the most scored in a game by a Miner in nine seasons.  Williams scored 26 of his points in the second half and had 18 points in a four-minute stretch when S&T took the lead for good.

He is among four Miners that are averaging in double figures on the season in the scoring column, a contingent led by Julien Smith (Fort Worth, TX/Northwest) with his average of 17.8 points per game that ranks second in the GLVC.  Smith also leads the Miners with 24 three-point baskets and is shooting 37.5 percent from beyond the arc.

Ikenna Okeke (Bolingbrook, IL/Romeoville) is scoring 15.3 points per game and leads S&T with 6.6 rebounds per contest, while Williams upped his seasonal scoring average to 14.2 per game following his outing against UIS and Kaden Froebe (Lincoln, IL/Lincoln) is at 12.6 points per contest.  Williams also leads the Miners with 33 assists and 18 steals on the year, while Froebe is among the GLVC leaders in field goal percentage at 65.6 percent.

S&T continues to rank high in the GLVC in several team categories, including leading the conference in scoring at 85.8 points per game and turnover margin at plus 5.7 per game.  The Miners are also second in field goal percentage at 50.8 percent and steals with 8.8 per game.

ABOUT MONTANA STATE BILLINGS: Montana State Billings comes into Saturday's game at 7-3 on the season, but lost its most recent game in overtime to Rocky Mountain by a count of 74-73 on Dec. 10.  Carrington Wiggins, the top scorer on the season for the Yellowjackets, had a game-high 23 points in the loss.

Wiggins is averaging 17.8 points per game as he is among three MSUB players scoring in double figures on the season and also leads the team with 24 three-point baskets and 17 steals.  Bilal Shabazz is scoring 11.7 points per game and ranks as the top rebounder for the Yellowjackets with 7.2 per game, while Steven Richardson is averaging 11.4 points per game.  Abdul Bah, who is just short of the double figure mark at 9.6 per game, is shooting 64 percent from three-point range.

The Yellowjackets are 2-0 in Great Northwest Athletic Conference play after sweeping a pair of games in Alaska earlier this month, but has suffered its other two losses to teams from the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference that includes one to fifth-ranked Black Hills State.

ABOUT WEST LIBERTY: The Hilltoppers enter the weekend at 9-0 on the season and ranked in the top five in both national polls, as they are fourth in the NABC coaches rankings and fifth in the D2SIDA media poll.  West Liberty, who will play Lubbock Christian Saturday, pulled out a 91-89 victory over West Virginia State -- who also entered the game undefeated and nationally-ranked -- on Bryce Butler's basket with five seconds to play.

Butler is averaging 23.4 points per game, a mark that ranks fourth nationally, for a team that ranks third in NCAA Division II in scoring as a unit with an average of 100.7 points per game.  Butler also leads WLU in rebounding with 7.4 per game and is shooting 61.7 percent from the field; his 92 field goals are the most in the country.

He is among six Hilltoppers who are scoring in double figures, with the other five all holding averages between 10 and 11.9 points per contest.  Steve Cannady is scoring 11.9 per game, while Malik McKinney is scoring 11.7 per game and Christian Montague is at 11.3 per contest and shares the team lead with 21 three-pointers made with Zach Rasile.  West Liberty leads the nation with 12.7 three-pointers per game and have attempted the most as well, as it has gone 114-of-317 from long range.

The Hilltoppers have been one of the most successful programs in NCAA Division II over the past decade-plus, with a record of 496-82 (.858 winning percentage) since the start of the 2004-05 season.