ST. LOUIS – The University of Missouri-St. Louis men's basketball team tips-off its 2023-24 season this weekend competing in the Small College Basketball Hall of Fame Classic at Jenkins Fieldhouse in Lakeland, Fla.
The Tritons will take on Cedarville in its season opener on Saturday afternoon at 12:15 p.m. (CDT) and then face No. 16 Bentley on Sunday afternoon at 12:15 p.m. (CST).
UMSL returns seven players from last year's team that went 24-11 including 11-9 in the GLVC, was the GLVC runner-up, won the Midwest Regional and advanced to the Elite Eight.
Sophomore guard
Matt Enright is the team's top returning scorer from a year ago averaging 7.1 points and 2.6 assists per game in 35 games played with 34 starts. Enright was named to the GLVC All-Freshman team. Senior forward
Janeir Harris averaged 6.4 points and 3.2 rebounds per game in 21 appearances while junior forward
Mayson Quartlebaum averaged 5.0 points and 2.3 rebounds per contest in 35 appearances.
The Tritons were picked to finish third this season in the GLVC's Preseason Coaches poll behind Indianapolis and Illinois Springfield.
About Cedarville – The Yellow Jackets were picked to finish third in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) preseason coaches poll and return seven of their top eight leading scores including their top from a squad that finished 18-11 overall and 11-9 in the G-MAC.
Senior guard Jayvon Maughmer ranked third in the league in scoring with 17.8 points per contest while Jacob Drees (13.5 ppg; 9.3 rpg) led the conference in rebounding. Both players earned All-G-MAC honors.
Cedarville dropped its exhibition game at Dayton last Saturday 75-40. Maughmer and Drees led the way with eight points apiece while Tymoteusz Pszczola added seven points off the bench.
About Bentley – The Falcons are coming off a 23-7 season and a second straight appearance in the East Region Championship game and are ranked 16th in the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Division II Preseason Top 25 poll.
Bentley returns 11 players from last year's squad, including two who missed all of last season due to injury. Two of those returning players and four of its seven rotation players.
Heading the list of returning players are senior guards Zach Laput and Aaron Latham. Laput earned NABC All-America honors and was the Northeast-10 Conference Player of the Year after averaging over 20 points and nearly seven rebounds per game. Latham averaged 10.8 points and 3.5 assists per game in his first season as a starter.
The Falcons are the preseason favorite to win the Northeast-10 and will take on No. 18 Colorado School of Mines in its season opener on Saturday.
