February 17, 2010
SETTING THE SCENE
The University of Missouri-St. Louis men’s basketball team wraps up the 2009-10 regular season this weekend at home, hosting Missouri S&T Thursday before entertaining Maryville Saturday. The Tritons are looking to snap a 10-game losing streak and stand at 10-15 on the season, including 4-12 in the GLVC, and sit in third place in the West Division standings, one game ahead of Missouri S&T.
SENIOR SALUTE
Saturday’s game will mark the final home contest for four seniors - Jeremy Brown, Adam Fear, Adam Kaatman and Cody Kliethermes. They will be honored in between the women’s and men’s game.
SCOUTING MISSOURI S&AT
Missouri S&T fell to 7-18 on the season, including 3-13 in the GLVC with a 72-62 overtime loss to No. 21 ranked Drury Monday night. The Miners, which have lost five straight, are one game behind UMSL in the West Division standings in fourth place. Bryce Foster averages 13.3 points to lead the team, while A.J. Mandani chips in 11.2 points and 3.0 assists per game.
THE MINERS HEAD COACH
Jim Glash is in his first season as head coach at Missouri S&T. He previously spent the
last two seasons assisting the Miners program and served as the team’s acting head
coach for a portion of the 2008-09 season while former head coach Dale Martin was
dealing with an illness.
THE SERIES
UMSL holds a 28-23 lead in the series despite three straight losses to the Miners. Missouri S&T swept both games last year and earned a 64-59 victory in the first meeting this year in Rolla, Mo.
EARLIER THIS YEAR
Missouri S&T 64, UMSL 59 (Jan. 4, 2010 - Rolla, Mo.)
Missouri S&T outscored UMSL, 9-4, in the final two minutes, breaking free from a 55-55 tie en route to the victory. After junior Ryan Lawrence knotted the score at 55-55 on a three-point basket with 3:19 on the clock, the Miners reeled off six unanswered points in a 71-second span to post a 61-55 lead with 29 seconds remaining. Sophomore Zach Redel connected on a pair of free throws to pull UMSL within 61-57 with 24 ticks on the clock, but the Miners hit 3-of-4 at the charity stripe to hang on the for the win. Lawrence paced UMSL with 15 points, six rebounds, four steals and three assists in a game that saw 13 ties and 14 lead changes.
SCOUTING MARYVILLE
Maryville stands at 3-23 on the season, including 1-13 in the GLVC. The Saints are coming off a 104-83 loss to Rockhurst Monday. Maryville averages 29 three-point field goal attempts a game, and is giving up 98.9 points per game in conference play only. Eric Gruenewald leads the team with 15.3 points per game.
THE SAINTS HEAD COACH
Matt Rogers is in his ninth and final year as head coach at Maryville, where he is 95-135. Rogers has resigned following this season.
THE SERIES
UMSL is 8-0 all-time against Maryville with the Tritons recording a 152-107 victory earlier this season at Maryville. Previoulsy, the two programs had not met since Dec. 16, 2005, when the Tritons recorded a 99-62 victory over the visiting Saints.
EARLIER THIS YEAR
UMSL 152, Maryville 107 (Jan. 2, 2010 - St. Louis, Mo.)
Senior Jeremy Brown connected on 14-of-16 field goals, scoring a career-high 28 points, as UMSL recorded a school-record 152 points in the win. UMSL, which had eight players in double figures, held a 69-54 halftime lead. After Maryville knotted the score at 35-35 with 7:25 to play, the Tritons outscored the Saints, 34-19 to close out the half.
ONE FOR THE RECORD BOOKS
The Tritons’ 152-107 victory at Maryville Jan. 2 broke several long-standing UMSL records, including:
- a school record of 152 points scored in a game, bettering the previous mark of 141 set against Missouri Valley on Dec. 8, 1971.
- a school record 83 second-half points bettered the previous record of 72 against Missouri Valley on Dec. 8, 1971.
- a school-record 39 assists, bettering the previous mark of 34 set against Sanford-Brown on Dec. 22, 1994.
- a school-record 70 percent (63-90) from the field, bettering the previous mark of 68.9 percent set against St. Louis Christian on Nov. 17, 2003
- a school record 63 made field goals, bettering the previous mark of 60 set against Missouri Valley on Dec. 8, 1971.
UMSL also set a trio of new GLVC-game only records, including:
- 152 points scored in a game, bettering the previous record of 139 set by Southern Indiana (vs. Indianapolis) on March 3, 1983.
- 63 made field goals, bettering the previous record of 57 set by Southern Indiana (vs. Indianapolis) on March 3, 1983.
- 39 assists, bettered the previous record of 33, attained three different times.
HOME SWEET HOME
UMSL owns a 307-198 (.608) record in its home facility - the Mark Twain Building. The arena opened in the fall of 1971 and during the 1971-72 season, the Tritons posted a 13-0 record on their new home court. UMSL was 11-4 at home last season, including 6-0 against non-conference opponents. The Tritons had a 17-game home non-conference win streak dating back to the 2006-07 season snapped earlier this year with a 63-48 loss to Christian Brothers.
HEAD COACH CHRIS PILZ
Chris Pilz is in his seventh season as head coach of the UMSL men’s basketball program where he holds a 75-113 record.
LAST TIME OUT
UMSL fell short in both games of its final roadtrip of the regular season last weekend. The Tritons lost a 68-60 verdict at Rockhurst Thursday before a narrow 73-67 loss at No. 21 ranked Drury on Saturday. Sophomore Beaumont Beasley had 20 points in each contest for UMSL.
KILLER B’S
Sophomore guard Beaumont Beasley has paced the squad in scoring all season, averaging a team-high 15.4 points per game and has nine 20-plus scoring games this season, moving his career total to 12 20-plus games. He also owns a team-best 112 assists (4.7 apg), the second most by a sophomore in program history. That figure is also tied for the seventh best single season total in program history. Beasley also has 369 points this season - the ninth most by a sophomore in a single season.
BEASLEY INTO TOP 50
With his nine points at Missouri S&T Jan. 4, Beaumont Beasley moved into UMSL’s list of Top 50 Career Scorers. Beasley currently ranks 40th with 644 career points.
LAWRENCE TIME
Junior Ryan Lawrence leads the team with 6.9 rebounds and is averaging 10.8 points per game. Lawrence pulled down a GLVC-single game high 20 rebounds against Saint Joseph’s on Dec. 28 in the Florida Southern Holiday Inn South/Ledger Tournament.
ZACH ATTACK
A welcomed addition in the post area has been that of sophomore Zach Redel. Redel came to UMSL from Central Missouri where he helped the Mules to a 30-5 record and an NCAA Elite Eight semifinal appearance. He is averaging 8.9 points and 5.7 rebounds on the season.
BASEketball
Senior Jeremy Brown returned to the hardwood last season for the first time since the 2002-03 season at Arkansas-Fort Smith. He spent the previous three years playing baseball in the Los Angeles Dodgers organization. Brown played one season of basketball at Arkansas-Fort Smith before transferring to Pratt Community College to spend two years with the baseball team. He was then selected in the 10th round of the 2005 draft by the Los Angeles Dodgers, where he quickly worked his way up to the Las Vegas 51’s of Triple A.
WHAT A START
UMSL started the 2009-10 season 6-0 for the first in program history. The 5-0 start was also a program first, while the squad’s 4-0 start marked just the third time (2005-06, 1966-67) in program history. Its 3-0 start occurred for just the fifth time (2005-06, 2001-02, 1975-76, 1966-78).
UP NEXT
UMSL will open GLVC Tournament play next Saturday (Feb. 27) against an opponent and at a site yet to be determined.
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