MENS BASKETBALL | OVERVIEW | |
 February 27, 2008GAME NOTES
THE SETTING: The Missouri-St. Louis men’s basketball team ends its season at Southern Indiana Saturday, while looking to close out the schedule with a two-game win streak. The Tritons are coming off a 74-71 victory at Missouri S&T Tuesday night.
UMSL will also be looking to play the role of spolier against the Screaming Eagles, who are tied for third in the GLVC West Division standings with Quincy and are seeking a berth to the conference tournament. In order to secure a bid, Southern Indiana, who also hosts Missouri S&T Thursday night, must win at least one game, while Quincy would need to loose both of its games.
THE SERIES: Southern Indiana owns a 26-11 edge in the series with UMSL and has won four straight and 11 of the last 12 meetings. Since joining the GLVC in 1996, the Tritons are just 2-20 against the Screaming Eagles.
EARLIER THIS SEASON: UMSL opened the home portion of its Great Lakes Valley Conference schedule with a 67-44 loss to visiting Southern Indiana on Jan. 3 in St. Louis.
Despite the loss, the Tritons got a solid effort from senior Paul De Chellis who scored 12 points, while pulling down 11 rebounds to notch the double-double.
Seniors David Ward and Paul Paradoski also scored 12 points each. Ward knocked in all six of his field goal attempts from the field.
Southern Indiana led 8-6 3:30 into the game before opening it up with a 13-2 run to take a 20-9 lead with 11:27 to play. The Screaming Eagles held a 35-19 halftime advantage.
The Tritons finished the game shooting 38.8 percent from the floor, while Southern Indiana shot 48.3 percent.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS: Southern Indiana enters Thursday’s contest with Missouri S&T with a 13-12 record, including a 7-10 mark in the GLVC and has dropped three straight.
Norman Plummer leads the Screaming Eagles with team-bests of 19.5 points and 10.4 rebounds per game.
THE OPPOSING COACH: Rick Herdes is in his seventh season at the head of the Southern Indiana program, where he owns a 171-52 record.
AN UMSL WIN WOULD...:
... give the Tritons a final season record of 11-16 overall, including 6-13 in the GLVC.
... be its third road win in the last four games.
... snap a four-game losing streak to Southern Indiana.
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 last 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 11.3 points per game to pace the offense.
• Paul Paradoski has dished out 113 assists this season (4.34 apg), which ranks fourth in the GLVC. That number is also the fifth best single season total in UMSL history.
• Paul De Chellis leads the team in rebounding, averaging 5.9 rebounds per game, which ranks ninth in the GLVC.
• David Ward is in 19th place among UMSL’s top 50 career scorers. Ward has scored 936 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:
• Nathan Whittaker is shooting 58.3 percent (14-of-24) from the field in the last four games.
• Tim Green is shooting 71.7 percent (38-of-53) from the field in the last nine games.
• Paul Paradoski has dished out at least two assists each game this season and has 18 games of four or more assists.
• Jason Black has connected on 18-of-29 (62 percent) shots from the field in the last nine 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 51-84 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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