Notes

KIRKSVILLE, Mo. – The Truman Men's Basketball team enters the second to last week of the season in the hunt for a GLVC title, and with two games this week at Maryville Monday night in a make up game from January and then return home Thursday night to take on William Jewell.
 
Truman has now won four in a row and five of their last six as they defeated Quincy and Illinois Springfield this past week. Against the Hawks the Bulldogs once again shot over 50% from the floor going 30-52 from the field (57.7%) while Cade McKnight led with 25 and Elijah Hazekamp recorded another double-double with 15 points and 12 boards. Hunter Strait also scored 21 off the bench. Against UIS Eric Northweather had his best day as a Bulldog with a career high 27 points and tied his career high with three blocks.  
 
The Bulldogs lead the GLVC in scoring with 79.8 points per game and remain fifth in scoring margin at +7.4. Moreover, the Bulldogs are tops in the GLVC in shooting percentage .508 and second in three point percentage at .410, and are tops in the GLVC with 9.7 made threes per game.
 
About the Players:
 
Cade McKnight has jumped over Missouri S&T's Julien Smith in points per game, now leading the GLVC with 19.9 points per game. His 25 points against Quincy last Thursday were crucial in lifting him to the top spot. At .607, he has the fifth highest shooting percentage in the GLVC among qualified players (those with at least three shots made per game), and also the highest three point percentage at .491 (among players with at least one made three per game). He began the season 20^th on the all-time scoring list in the history of the Bulldog program, but has now moved up to 6^th this season. He now has 1487 career points, 38 behind Broderic Thomas for fifth place.

Masen Miller continues to be one of the top sharpshooters in the GLVC, shooting .463 from downtown—fifth among qualified players. At 3.2 makes per game, he ranks second in the conference behind Julien Smith of Missouri S&T. He continues to lead the Bulldogs in minutes per game with 35.2, which ranks fourth in the GLVC. His current career shooting percentage from three point range is .444, which puts him second on the all-time list—just .06 behind Boyd Printy for the top spot.

Hunter Strait remains one of the top distributors in the GLVC with 4.7 per game, just behind Mitch Ganote of SBU; with whom he's been exchanging the top spot with all season. His eight assists at Lewis was the most since he picked up nine against Lindenwood on January 2. He also has moved into the top ten all time in career assists in Bulldog history with 304 assists, needing 15 to catch Banks Estridge for ninth His current average of 4.8 assists per game would rank third all-time in assists per game in a season.

Elijah Hazekamp continues to be an all-around player for the Bulldogs—third in points per game with 12.2 and leads the team in rebounds with 7.0. His mark on the boards is good for fifth in the GLVC. He grabbed 12 boards against Quincy, which is the second most in a single game for him this season; trailing only 14 in the win over UMSL in Pershing. It was also his fourth double-double of the season.

Eric Northweather started each of the past six games, and scored in double figures in five of them. He set a new career high with 27 points in the win over UIS on Saturday, which included three made three pointers. He also racked up seven rebounds and three assists last week, while also tying his career best with three blocks against UIS. He is among nine players averaging a block per game in the GLVC.

Trey Shearer is averaging 14.5 minutes per game, and has started the last six games; five of which have been Bulldog wins. He scored four points against Quincy and set a new career high with four rebounds.

Dylan Peeters got the start on Saturday in place of the injured McKnight and stepped up with 16 points (which tied his season high) and nine rebounds. He was one rebound short of his fifth double-double of the season. He also dished out three assists in the game and picked up a steal.

Keaton Mitchell is averaging 10.5 minutes per game off the bench this season, and has seven blocked shots which ranks third on the team. He also averages 5.2 points per game and 2.5 rebounds per game. He grabbed three boards against UIS with two points.

Sam Nissen is averaging 10.4 minutes per game this season, with 1.6 points per game. He scored four points against UIS in 14 minutes of action, and is averaging almost one assist per game this year.

Josh Ollendieck has appeared in 14 games this season, and is averaging 8.1 minutes per game. He scored on a layup against UIS, his first points since the game in December against Central Christian. He also got a steal and an assist against the Prairie Stars.  

Sam Lock has played in 17 games this season, playing 7.1 minutes per game. He's shooting over 50% from the floor and 50% from downtown and averages 2.8 points and 1.1 rebounds per game. He grabbed two boards with two points against UIS.

Devin Fields has been in four games this year and made three shots from downtown. 

Series History w/Maryville: The teams have met 16 times before, with Truman winning 12 of them. The Bulldogs have won the last two in the series, both at home. The two teams met three times before Truman joined the GLVC, with the first coming in 2003.
 
About the Saints: Ari Jackson and Cameron Scales are both averaging double figures at 12.8 and 11.4 points per game, respectively. JT Morgan leads the team with 5.3 rebounds per game. The team has gone cold after a hot start—losing seven of their past eight and enter the game with 10-12 overall record.

Series History w/WJC: The teams met for the first time in 1920, which was a 33-30 win for the Cardinals. The teams met nine times over 51 years between 1920 and 1971—with Truman taking five of those meetings. They didn't meet again until 2014, which was the first meeting in the GLVC. Since then, Truman has won 14 straight times.
 
About the Cardinals: Jordan Jermain leads the team with 14.4 points per game, and is joined in double figures by Kobe McKinley at 12.1 and Mason Alexander at 11.4. Heri Tsiyoyo is third in the GLVC with 8.1 rebounds per game. The team comes in with a 12-12 overall record, 8-8 in the GLVC.

Up Next: After this week the Bulldogs go on the road to close out the regular season, with a crucial showdown at Southwest Baptist looming on the 24^th and then the final regular season game is at Rockhurst on the 26^th.