JEFFERSON CITY, MO & SPRINGFIELD, MO  --  It is the final week of the men's basketball season and Missouri S&T is set to play the Lincoln Blue Tigers on Thursday before concluding the regular season at Drury on Saturday.
 
About the Blue Tigers
Lincoln has had a strong performance in their first season as a member of the Great Lakes Valley Conference, going 12-7 against conference opponents and remaining undefeated in the non-conference schedule. The Blue Tigers even earned a spot in last week's preview of the NCAA Division II Midwest Regional, ranking in the top ten.
Lincoln has been one of the best defending teams in the country, allowing a conference-low 63.1 points per game to opponents that is also sixth-best in the nation. However, they have proven to be far better at preventing scoring than scoring themselves, as they rank fourth-to-last in the conference for points per game with 72.1.
Frank Yetna has been Lincoln's leading scorer this season, averaging 15.7 points per game and ranking 10th in the conference for scoring. He has been one of the team's best rebounders as well, ranking second with 6.6 per game. The Blue Tigers also have the second-best three-point shooter in the conference in Tyler Chapman who is averaging 46.3% from beyond the arc this season.
 While the Blue Tigers hold a six-game advantage over S&T in the series history, the Miners won the previous contest between these two teams… taking down Lincoln 72-54 in Gibson Arena on December 2nd, 2024.
 
About the Panthers
Drury will be fighting to claim a spot in the GLVC Tournament this week, currently sitting at 10th and needing a lot of things to fall their way in the final nights of regular season competition. The Panthers are 13-12 this year and have gone 8-10 against. They have won three of their last four though, most recently routing Southwest Baptist 89-59.
The Panthers have four athletes averaging double digit points per game, with Logan Applegate's 14.0 PPG leading the way. Applegate and fellow sharpshooter Zach Howell both rank in the top ten in the conference for three-point percentage, shooting 38.9% and 36.8%, respectively.
The Miners trail in the all-time series but have put a dent in Drury's series lead by winning seven of the last nine. S&T defeated DU earlier this season as well, winning in Gibson 90-72 back on January 11th.
 
About the Miners
The Miners moved back up to #8 in the most recent National Association of Basketball Coaches poll following wins over Southwest Baptist and Rockhurst last week. Their overall record has now improved to 22-3 and they are 16-2 in conference. Saturday's buzzer beater victory over Rockhurst gave S&T their first GLVC Regular Season Championship in school history, clinching them as the #1 seed the GLVC Tournament next week.
 
Alex Benassi (Lee's Summit, MO/Lee's Summit) continues to maintain the best assist/turnover ratio in the conference with a 3.35 ratio that is also seventh in all of Division II. Andrew Young (Ballwin, MO/Marquette) and Lovell Williams (Rogers, MN/Maple Grove) are still the Miners' top scorers this season, averaging 17.0 and 13.3 points per game, but it was Ryan Sroka (Lake in the Hills, IL/Huntley) and Cameron Stovall (St. Louis, MO/Vashon) who led the team in scoring last week, with Sroka's 20 points against SBU pushing him past 1000 career points and Stovall's career-high 26 points helping the Miners clinch the #1 seed in the win over Rockhurst.
 
What's Next
The Miners will play their first game of the GLVC Tournament on Thursday next week, facing whichever team lands the #8 seed.
 
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