Drury watched Missouri-St. Louis come all the way back from a 22-point deficit, then made the crucial plays down the stretch to pull out a 77-72 victory over the Tritons in their Great Lakes Valley Conference matchup Saturday afternoon at the O'Reilly Family Event Center.
The Panthers (18-7, 13-4 in the GLVC) clinched at least a share of their fourth straight GLVC West title with their sixth consecutive victory. They'll play their final regular season game on Thursday at The O' when Missouri S&T comes in for a 7:45 p.m. tipoff with a one-game lead over Quincy, which finishes at home vs. Truman State that night. A DU victory would guarantee the Panthers the West title and at least a No. 2 seed in the GLVC Championship post-season tourney March 4-6 in St. Charles, Mo.
Kameron Bundy scored 24 points and added six assists to lead four Panthers in double-figures as Drury moved to 6-0 in February. Drew Moore added 16 points and a game-high seven rebounds and Tevin Fosterand Douglas Moore added 10 points each for DU.
Drury took advantage of a hot-shooting first half – making 16 of 28 shots (57 percent) – to build what seemed like an insurmountable 40-23 lead at the halftime break. After the Panthers scored the first five points of the second half, that lead grew to 22 points (45-23), before the Tritons (11-15, 5-12) made their charge.
UMSL had the deficit down to six (53-47) by the 10-minute mark, and when Tre Ogles made two free throws with 3:28 to go, the game was knotted at 65.
A Douglas Moore layup with 2:03 left gave the Panthers the lead for good at 69-67, and a steal and layup by Bundy pushed it to four. From there, Bundy made a pair of free throws and Foster made four of four, all in the final 24 seconds, to end the threat and close out the Tritons.
"It's the best we've played this year, that first 20 minutes," Drury coach Steve Hesser said. "On a positive note, we were really off track, we were lazy, we were unsound … but hey, give our guys some credit. There late, Bundy comes up with a big steal on the sideline, Drew Moore hits a late clock 17-footer … we got a couple of stops and had some guys step up and make some free throws late for us.
"We had juice and we were connected in the first half. We didn't have juice and we weren't connected in the second half."
Brandon Marquardt scored 15 of his 20 points in the second half to lead UMSL, which fell to DU for the sixth consecutive time in the series. Ogles finished with 16 points.
The Tritons shot 52 percent for the game (27 of 52) from the field after making 18 of 29 shots (62 percent) in the second half. Drury cooled down only slightly after the break, going 10 for 20 from the field to finish at 54 percent (26 of 48).
Hesser praised the work of Foster, who was held scoreless in the first half but played a big role in getting DU out to the big lead.
"Tevin didn't score, but I thought he did a great job, helping others get their shots … he just did the things you do to be a great guard, and he was OK with it," Hesser said.
Drury won the battle of the boards by a 28-25 count, pushing the Panthers' record to 10-0 this season when they outrebound their opponent.
Drury will close the season on Thursday at home vs. Missouri S&T on Senior Night, as seniors Bundy and Gamiz will be honored in pre-game ceremonies.
"At the end of the day, it's another win at home (today)," Hesser said. "All the alumni who came back for Homecoming, and the Fanthers and fans that came out … we're probably not sitting here with a smile on our faces if it wasn't for them. So from the basketball program, we say thank you. We're looking forward to Thursday and Senior Night."
