GAME DAY LINKS --
McKENDREE vs. MISSOURI S&T -- Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016, 7:30 p.m.
Harry M. Statham Sports Center, Lebanon, Ill.
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McKENDREE SEASON STATISTICS
MISSOURI S&T SEASON STATISTICS
McKENDREE vs. DRURY -- Saturday, Feb. 13, 2016, 3 p.m.
Harry M. Statham Sports Center, Lebanon, Ill.
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McKENDREE SEASON STATISTICS
DRURY SEASON STATISTICS
(LEBANON, Ill., Feb. 10)--The McKendree University men's basketball team will enjoy all the comforts of home for the final five games of the 2015-16 regular season, beginning with a pair of Great Lakes Valley Conference cross-divisional match-ups this weekend. The Bearcats will entertain Missouri S & T Thursday night before Drury University visits the Harry M. Statham Sports Center Saturday afternoon.
McKendree comes into the weekend with an overall record of 11-10 and a 4-9 mark in GLVC play. The Bearcats picked up a big conference victory on many fronts Satursday with a 92-84 triumph at Maryville University.
Nate Michael (St. Joseph, IL/St. Joseph-Ogden) torched the Saints for a career-high 40 points, 22 of which came in the second half. He also had eight rebounds to tie a career-high. It marked the first time that a McKendree player scored 40 points in a contest during the program's NCAA Division II era that began in 2012-13. In addition, it was the first time a Bearcat registered at least 40 points since Jeff Suelmann dropped in 41 points in a victory against East-West University back on Dec. 11, 2003. Michael is just the second GLVC player to score at least 40 points during a game this year.
David Franklin (O'Fallon, IL/Althoff Catholic) chipped in with 21 points, eight rebounds, seven assists and three steals against Maryville, while
Michael Jackson (O'Fallon, IL/O'Fallon) added a double-double with 14 points and a career-best 10 rebounds.
With the win, McKendree men's basketball coach
Harry Statham surpassed former University of Tennessee women's coach Pat Summitt as the all-time leader in career victories at the four-year college level. The win marked No. 1,099 in Statham's 50-year career at McKendree, ecliping Summitt's mark of 1,098 wins that she established before retiring in 2012.
Saturday's win at Maryville also kept the Bearcats in the thick of the chase for a GLVC Tournament slot. McKendree enters the weekend as one of four conference teams sitting at 4-9 in the league. Saint Jospeh's College, Missouri S&T and the University of Missouri-St. Louis are all tied with McKendree in the conference standings heading into this weekend's action.
Franklin continues to sit in the top five in the GLVC in scoring. He is third in the league at 20 points per game, while he remains fifth in the conference in rebounding at 7.9 rebounds per outing. Jackson sits second on the team in scoring at 14 points a game,while Michael has surged into third on the Bearcats' scoring list at 13.5 PPG.
Darin Winkelman (Steeleville, IL/Steeleville) is the other McKendree player averaging in double figures at 10.7 PPG. Franklin, Winkelman and Jackson are the only three Bearcats to have started all 21 games this season, while Michael and
John Murphy (Peoria, IL/Richwoods) have also appeared in each of the team's contests in 2015-16.
ABOUT MISSOURI S&TThe Miners bring an 8-14 overall record and, as mentioned earlier, are tied with McKendree at 4-9 in the GLVC standings. Missouri S&T has dropped its last four contests, including a 94-87 decision at home on Saturday to the University of Southern Indiana. B.J. McLaughlin leads a balanced scoring attack for the Miners at 15.4 points per game. Desmond Buerge is next at 11.5 points per outing, while he shoots 46.4 percent from three-point range and 81 percent from the foul line. Rokas Paulauskas ranks among conference leaders in rebounding at 6.8 per game. Juwan Miller also sits in the GLVC top 10 in both assists per game (4.2) and steals (1.9).
McKendree and Missouri S&T have met three times since the Bearcats joined the conference in 2012-13. The Miners hold a slight 2-1 edge in those contests, which includes an 85-72 win over the Bearcats last season in Rolla, Mo. Jackson registered a career-high 27 points in the ouiting for the Bearcats against Missouri S&T. Buerge led the Miners with 18 points, four steals and five blocked shots. In their only meeting on the floor at the Statham Center, McKendree collected a 106-99 win over Missouri S&T. Mike DiGregorio set a school record by hitting 21-of-22 free throw attempts on his way to a game-high 30 points.
ABOUT DRURYThe Panthers are 14-7 on the year and 9-4 in the GLVC prior to their game Thursday evening at the University of Illinois Springfield. Drury has won its last two outings, including a 66-56 home decision on Saturday over then-No. 9 Bellarmine University. Kameron Bundy, who is closing out a stellar four-year career with the Panthers, leads the team in scoring at 19 points per game. He also also connected for 60 three-point field goals and has dished out a team-best 75 assists. Tevin Foster is averaging 14.3 points per outing while shooting just over 85 percent from the free throw line.
Drury has taken both meetings from McKendree since the Bearcats joined the GLVC, including a 79-45 win in Springfield back on Feb. 7, 2015. Jackson and Holmes each netted 10 points in the contest for the Bearcats, while Cameron Adams scored a game-high 26 points and Bundy posted 20 points for the Panthers. In their only previous meeting at the Statham Center -- on Dec. 6, 2014 -- Drury, which was ranked No. 4 in NCAA Division II at the time, escaped with a 78-74 win over McKendree. The Panthers needed to score the final five points of the game in the final 28 seconds to rally for the win.
WHAT'S NEXTFollowing this weekend's action, McKendree will have three games left in its 2015-16 regular-season slate. All three games will be at home against GLVC East Division foes -- Bellarmine on Feb. 18, Southern Indiana on Feb. 20 and Illinois Springfield on Feb. 25.
