SOMERS, Wis. – Wisconsin-Parkside charged into the lead near the midway point of the second half and pulled away late for an 84-67 victory over Drury in their Great Lakes Valley Conference matchup Saturday night at DeSimone Gymnasium.
Drury led 50-45 with 11 minutes remaining, but watched the Rangers go on a 27-8 run over the next seven-plus minutes to break open a tight contest, snapping a three-game win streak for the Panthers (8-5, 3-2).
Parkside won its sixth straight game to improve to 10-2 overall and 3-1 in the GLVC with its 26th consecutive home-court victory as senior Andy Mazurczak led the second half charge with 20 of his game-high 24 points.
"Give the young man (Mazurczak) credit… he was a lot tougher than our guards down the stretch," Drury coach Steve Hesser said.
"The whole game was a battle … I was concerned with new guys and stuff. We didn't handle Thursday night's win in the right manner, and that's something that should be a learning experience for us. We struggled to focus last night (practice) here, and we struggled to focus today. So this needs to be a learning experience. We just can't continue to be having them."
Josh Palmer hit 10 of 12 shots and scored a career-high 24 points with his fifth straight double-digit effort to lead the Panthers, who also got 13 points and a career-best 14 rebounds from Drew Moore. DU's top scorer on the season, senior guard Kameron Bundy, was held to nine points on 3-for-14 shooting as he had a 17-game streak of double-figure scoring efforts snapped.
Mazurczak had a team-high eight rebounds as the Rangers claimed a 36-28 advantage on the boards.
Parkside made 58 percent of its shots (19 of 33) from the field in the second half and finished at 53 percent for the game (32 of 61). Drury shot 49 percent (26 of 53) for the game.
Kendale McCullum added 19 points (13 in the first half) and Alexander Brown had 16 points for the Rangers.
