SETTING THE SCENE
The UMSL men's basketball team closes out the regular season Thursday night at Maryville. With a win, the Tritons would finish in a tie for second place in the West Division with the Saints, while a loss would give them a third place finish. UMSL also needs a win to better its chances of hosting a first round game of the GLVC Tournament, while Maryville is looking to possibly earn a first round bye with a victory over the Tritons. The top four teams earn a first round bye, while seeds 5-8 will host seeds 9-12 on their campus this Sunday. The winners then advance to the 2013 Deaconess GLVC Tournament March 7-10 at the Ford Center in Evansville, Ind.

SIZING UP THE TRITONS
UMSL is riding a three-game win streak and improved to 17-8 overall, including 10-7 in the GLVC with an 82-67 victory over Illinois-Springfield in its regular season home finale last Saturday. The Tritons, which held a 34-33 halftime lead, used a 17-5 run to open the second half and shot 65.2 percent in the final 20 minutes. Junior Darian Cartharn scored 19 points, while senior Joshua McCoy (15 points), junior Michael Weber (14 points) and senior Isiah Nunn (11 points) all finished in double figures.

McCoy and Cartharn lead the squad in scoring with 15.2 and 14.9 points, respectively, while Weber adds 9.6 points per game.

GLVC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Junior Darian Cartharn is the reigning GLVC Men's Basketball Player of the Week. Cartharn guided the Tritons to two wins last weekend, while averaging 21.0 points and 4.5 rebounds per game, while shooting 53.6 percent (15-of-28) from the field, including 52.6 percent (10-of-19) from three-point range.

A WINNING SEASON TIMES THREE
UMSL has recorded its third straight winning season - something that hasn't been done since the first five seasons of the program. UMSL had a winning season in its first five years, but hasn't strung together three winning seasons since then.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
Maryville is 22-8 overall and 11-6 in the GLVC and is coming off a 49-46 home loss to Quincy. Asa Toney leads four Saints in double figure scoring with 14.4 points per game and averages 4.4 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 1.9 steals per game.

THE SERIES
UMSL is 13-1 against Maryville with its first loss in the series coming this season on December 5 on the Tritons' home floor in the GLVC opener. Maryville outscored UMSL, 13-5, in the final six and a half minutes of regulation to force overtime before coming away with a 72-65 victory.

LEADING THE NATION AT THE LINE
The Tritons lead the NCAA Division II in free throw shooting percentage, connecting at an 80.7 percent clip from the charity stripe.

Junior Michael Weber leads the Tritons at the line at 91.0 percent (81-of-89), which ranks fifth nationally among all individual players in that category. His percentage currently ranks second all-time in a single season at UMSL.

MORE ON THE FREEBIE SUCCESS
UMSL leads the GLVC in total free throws made (476) and is second in attempts (590), averaging 24.9 attempts per game.  

Junior Michael Weber tied an UMSL single game free throw percentage record by netting all 11 attempts at the free throw line at Kentucky Wesleyan on Jan. 5. Weber had a stretch of 34 straight free throws made earlier this season - which included his 11-for-11 performance at KWC. His streak extended over 15 games and came to an end at Drury on Feb. 7 as Weber missed his first two attempts at the charity stripe.

FROM THREE-POINT RANGE
Junior Darian Cartharn has netted 72 three-pointers this season, which ties the second best single season total in program history. He also ranks second in the GLVC in three-pointers made.

Cartharn has recorded five or more three-pointers five times this season - including four of the last five games.

FROM THREE-POINT RANGE... PART II
UMSL has hit 216 three-pointers this season, which is second on the single season charts only to last year's 224 long balls. The Tritons have recorded double digit three-pointers in their last seven games and have recorded double digit three-pointers for a school record 11 times this season.

THE REAL MCCOY
Senior Joshua McCoy is averaging 14.3 points per game during his two-year career at UMSL, having scored 766 career points, which ranks 29th on the Top 50 list. He has 105 three-pointers (which ranks 10th all-time in program history) and is shooting 39.0 percent from beyond the arc, which currently ranks fourth on the career charts. Additionally, McCoy is shooting 84.5 percent (181-of-214) from the free throw line, which ranks second all-time.

TRITON TIDBITS
- Senior Joshua McCoy ranks 10th in the GLVC in scoring (15.2 ppg), while junior Darian Cartharn (14.9 ppg) is 11th.
- Senior Isiah Nunn ranks seventh in the GLVC in field goal percentage (.569).
- Nunn is 10th all-time in the UMSL record books with 36 career blocked shots.
- UMSL is 1-2 in overtime games this season with its win coming in a double overtime victory against Bellarmine on January 10. The Tritons also played in the GLVC's last double OT game, posting a 72-61 win at Maryville on February 17, 2011.
- The Tritons tied a school-record with 15 three-pointers in a 90-76 win over Central Oklahoma on November 24.
- UMSL scored 90 or more points in three of its first five games and has hit the 90-point mark in five games.