February 20, 2008

Men's Basketball Travels to Drury, Rockhurst

GAME NOTES

THE SETTING: Just four games remain - all of which are on the road - for the Missouri-St. Louis men’s basketball team this season. The Tritons travel to No. 7 ranked Drury Thursday before a contest at Rockhurst Saturday to kick-off the roadswing.

THE SERIES: UMSL and Drury meet for just the 11th time with the Panthers having won eight on those contests, including the last five since Drury became a member of the GLVC two years ago.

UMSL and Rockhurst meet for the 27th time with Rockhurst owning a 14-13 edge in the series. The teams have split their meetings each of the last two years.

EARLIER THIS SEASON: Then no. 11 ranked Drury won the first meeting, 68-55, in St. Louis on Feb. 9.

The Tritons, who trailed 37-19 at the half, outscored the Panthers, 36-31, in the second stanza and cut the deficit to 53-45 with under six minutes to play on a three-point play by senior Sky Frazier. Drury then went on a 10-4 run to take a 63-48 lead on a three-point shot by Steven Gum with 2:26 remaining.

Tim Green followed with a pair of three-pointers over the next one minute and 20 seconds to pull the Tritons within 64-55 with 1:06 remaining, but the Panthers sealed the game by going 4-of-4 at the free throw line in the final 57 seconds.

Senior Paul Paradoski scored 16 points to pace UMSL.

Green recorded 15 points and seven rebounds to help UMSL to a 64-48 victory over Rockhurst Feb. 7 in St. Louis.

The Tritons outscored the Hawks, 37-21, in the second half to erase a 27-27 halftime score.

Paradoski added 11 points for the Tritons.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS: Drury stands at 20-3 overall, including 13-2 in the GLVC, which puts them atop the West Division standings. The Panthers have won their last four outings and are led by Collins Harris’ 17.8 points per game. Three others players average double figures, including Steven Gum’s 14.2 points per game.

Rockhurst enters a Thursday contest against Missouri S&T with an 8-15 record, including a 4-11 mark in the GLVC. The Hawks sit one game ahead of the Tritons in West Division standings, in fourth place. Joey Deas averages a team-best 16.6 points per game.

THE OPPOSING COACHES: Steve Hesser is in his fourth season at Drury.

Bill O’Connor is in his 14th season as head coach at Rockhurst.

AN UMSL WIN AGAINST DRURY WOULD...:
... improve the Tritons’ record to 9-15 overall and 4-12 in the GLVC.
... snap a five-game losing streak to the Panthers.
... be the Tritons’ first road victory this season.

NUMBERS TO KEEP TRACK OF:
• Head coach Chris Pilz is one win shy of recording career win No. 50.

WELCOME BACK: Junior Aaron Jackson returned to the court Jan. 31 at Quincy for the first time since an ACL injury this past summer kept his sidelined. He responded by scoring nine points against the Hawks.

TRITON TIDBITS:
• Paul De Chellis recorded his second double-double of the season and the third of his career with 10 points and 10 rebounds against SIU Edwardsville Feb. 14. He also garnered a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds against Southern Indiana on Jan. 3.
• David Ward played in his 100th career game at Quincy Jan. 31.
• Ten different players have started at least one game this season. Paul Paradoski is the only player to have started all 23 games.
• UMSL’s newcomers have made an immediate impact on the offensive end this season, accounting for 70 percent of the Tritons’ scoring. Junior Tim Green averages 11.2 points per game to pace the offense.
• Paul De Chellis leads the team in rebounding, averaging 5.8 rebounds per game, which ranks eighth in the GLVC.
• Paul Paradoski has dished out 97 assists this season (4.2 apg), which ranks fifth in the GLVC. He needs six assists to crack into UMSL’s top 10 single season leaders.
• David Ward is in 22nd place among UMSL’s top 50 career scorers. Ward has scored 899 points during his career with the Tritons. He needs 101 points to become the 16th member of the school’s 1,000-point club.
• Paul De Chellis recorded 14 points against Northern Kentucky Jan. 24 and 12 points against Bellarmine Jan. 26, marking the first time he has had back-to-back double figure scoring games.
• Tim Green and Larricus Brown transferred to UMSL after playing together in high school and in junior college. Green and Brown hail from Memphis, Tenn., where they led Raleigh Egypt High School to a state runner-up finish their senior season. The duo then went on to Itawamba CC and helped that team to an Elite Eight appearance of the NJCAA Tournament last season.

TRITON TRENDS:
• Tim Green is shooting 66.7 percent (24-of-36) from the field in the last six games.
• Jason Black has connected on 11-of-18 (61.1 percent) shots from the field in the last six games.
• Adam Kaatman is shooting 53.3 percent (8-of-15) from the field in the last three games, including 50 percent (5-of-10) from three-point range.
• Paul De Chellis has made 9-of-17 shots (52.9 percent) in the last two games.
• Paul Paradoski has dished out at least two assists each game this season and has 14 games of four or more assists.
• UMSL held Missouri S&T to just 46 points Jan. 12, the lowest for a Triton opponent since UMSL defeated Saint Louis Christian, 108-35, on Nov. 17, 2003.
• UMSL’s bench is outscoring its opponents’ bench, 19.9 to 13.6.

NO. 500!: With its victory over William Woods on Dec. 17, the Tritons won game no. 500 in the men’s basketball program.

HOME SWEET HOME: UMSL owns a 297-184 (.617) 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 its new home court.

UMSL was 8-6 at home this season.

HEAD COACH CHRIS PILZ: Chris Pilz is in his fifth season as head coach of the UMSL men’s basketball program where he holds a 49-83 record.

Pilz came to UMSL having built a successful program at Hazelwood Central (Mo.) High School, leading the team to a 107-55 record and never finishing with a losing season. He also spent two years at Senath-Hornersville (Mo.) High School and four years at Salem (Mo.) High School.

A former standout at UMSL, Pilz was a second team All-American during the 1990-91 season and ranks as the school’s third all-time leading scorer in school history with 1,677 points.


Return To Articles