February 25, 2008

Men's Basketball Continues Road Trek at Missouri S&T Tuesday

THE SETTING: The Missouri-St. Louis men’s basketball team plays its third road game in four days when it travels to Missouri S&T Tuesday night.

The Tritons are coming off a 66-58 loss at No. 7 ranked Drury Sunday and a 71-70 victory at Rockhurst Saturday - their first road victory of the season.

THE SERIES: UMSL and Missouri S&T meet for the 48th time in school history with the Tritons holding a 27-20 edge in the series, having won the last five meetings.

EARLIER THIS SEASON: Seniors Paul Paradoski and David Ward each scored a game-high 13 points to help UMSL to its first Great Lakes Valley Conference win with a 60-46 victory over visiting Missouri Science & Technology on Jan. 12 in St. Louis.

Senior Sky Frazier added 12 points as the Tritons overcame a 23-19 halftime deficit by shooting a sizzling 59.1 percent in the second half, and holding Missouri S&T to just 25 percent shooting in the second stanza.

UMSL opened the second half by outscoring the Miners 14-3 and took a 27-26 lead it would not relinquish on a pair of Paradoski free throws at the 13:50 mark.

The Tritons outrebounded Missouri S&T, 40-29, with senior Paul De Chellis pulling down nine rebounds.

Paradoski also collected four steals in the contest, while juniors Jason Black and Tim Green dished out four assists each.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS: Missouri S&T has lost 18 straight and stands at 3-22, including 0-17 in the GLVC. The Miners are coming off a 113-76 loss at Drury Saturday.

Justin Taylor paces the offense with 14.5 points per game, while Taurance Townsel adds 10.2 points per game and a team-best 5.0 rebounds per game.

THE OPPOSING COACH: Dale Martin is in his 21st season as the head coach of the Miner basketball program.

AN UMSL WIN WOULD...:
... improve the Tritons’ record to 10-16 overall and 5-13 in the GLVC.
... be the Tritons’ sixth straight victory over Missouri S&T.

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:
• Head coach Chris Pilz earned his 50th career coaching victory at Rockhurst Saturday.
• Ten different players have started at least one game this season.
• UMSL’s newcomers have made an immediate impact on the offensive end this season, accounting for 69 percent of the Tritons’ scoring. Junior Tim Green averages 11.2 points per game to pace the offense.
• Paul Paradoski has dished out 106 assists this season (4.24 apg), which ranks fourth in the GLVC. That number also ties the seventh best single season total in UMSL history.
• Paul De Chellis leads the team in rebounding, averaging 5.8 rebounds per game, which ranks 10th in the GLVC.
• David Ward is in 19th place among UMSL’s top 50 career scorers. Ward has scored 930 points during his career with the Tritons.
• 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.
• 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.
• David Ward played in his 100th career game at Quincy Jan. 31.
• 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:
• Adam Kaatman is shooting 63.2 percent (12-of-19) from the field in the last three games and is averaging 13.7 points per game during that stretch.
• David Ward has reached double figures in the last three games, averaging 13.7 points per game, while shooting 62.5 percent (15-of-24) from the field during that stretch.
• Nathan Whittaker is shooting 56.3 percent (9-of-16) from the field in the last three games.
• Tim Green is shooting 68.8 percent (33-of-48) from the field in the last eight games.
• Paul Paradoski has dished out at least two assists each game this season and has 16 games of four or more assists.
• Jason Black has connected on 16-of-27 (70.3 percent) shots from the field in the last eight games.
• 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, 20.1 to 13.7.

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 50-84 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.
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