SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – On Senior Day, it was only appropriate that the senior members of the Drury Panthers would carry them to an impressive win, as they downed the Tritons of Missouri-St. Louis 78-66 at the O’Reilly Family Event Center.
The Panther trio of Conley Garrison, Obi Okafor, and Brandon Emmert combined to score 33 of Drury’s 48 second-half points to take the Panthers to 7-8 overall on the season, as well as in Great Lakes Valley Conference action and posted back-to-back wins after snapping a five-game losing streak earlier in the week.
Garrison, who finished with a team-high 21 points, scored 19 in the second half, while Okafor added 11, six after the break, and Emmert dropping in all eight of his points in the second half.
“We got some inside scoring today, which we’ve struggled with all year,” said Drury head coach Steve Hesser. “We made a couple of shots and followed that with a couple of stops, then Conley makes two big threes, and it was a solid job all around.”
Twelve first-half turnovers by the Tritons along with eight Drury steals and a strong defensive presence by the Panthers, carried them to a 30-23 lead at halftime.
Missouri-St. Louis managed to battle back to within five points several times in the second half, but the Panthers, behind the surge by their seniors, pulled away in the final six minutes, hitting on ten of eleven free throws to seal the win in the last 3:41 of action.
Drury dominated the boards, outrebounding the Tritons 35-27, and turned 20 assists into 30 made baskets, as they hit on 17 of 22 attempts in the second half.
“We shoot 77 percent in the second half, so there weren’t many offensive rebounds to be had,” said Hesser. “But the eight offensive boards in the first half gave us an opportunity for some second-half scoring.”
Junior Victor Nwagbarachoa and sophomore Jason Montgomery added 11 points each for the Panthers, with sophomore Maleek Davis chipping in 10 to give Drury five players in double figures for the game.
Lawrence Brazil III topped the scoring for the Tritons (12-4, 12-4 GLVC).
The Panthers return to action on Tuesday, February 9th, when they begin a three-game road swing, traveling to Rockhurst in a 5:30 pm game in Kansas City.
